WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.459 Welcome to today's deep dive. We are We are really 00:00:03.459 --> 00:00:05.259 thrilled you're here joining us today. Absolutely. 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:08.519 Because today we are opening up a stack of incredibly 00:00:08.519 --> 00:00:13.140 rich biographical and historical sources. They 00:00:13.140 --> 00:00:17.160 detail the life of a man whose relentless, extraordinary 00:00:17.160 --> 00:00:20.500 drive fundamentally altered the landscape of 00:00:20.500 --> 00:00:22.460 American history. Yeah. We are looking at Benjamin 00:00:22.460 --> 00:00:24.739 Papp Singleton. Right. Benjamin Papp Singleton. 00:00:24.940 --> 00:00:28.260 Yeah. And our mission for you today is to unpack 00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:31.160 the mechanics of how this one individual constantly 00:00:31.160 --> 00:00:34.090 adapted to these. massive, cascading, systemic 00:00:34.090 --> 00:00:36.710 failures. He literally engineered the movement 00:00:36.710 --> 00:00:39.549 of thousands of people. Exactly. To forge a completely 00:00:39.549 --> 00:00:42.590 new economic reality. I mean, it is a masterclass 00:00:42.590 --> 00:00:46.609 in strategic pivoting. It really is. And to truly 00:00:46.609 --> 00:00:48.770 understand the sheer scale of his logistical 00:00:48.770 --> 00:00:50.770 and political maneuvering, we have to look at 00:00:50.770 --> 00:00:53.140 the transition period. specifically from the 00:00:53.140 --> 00:00:55.399 American Civil War, straight into the deeply 00:00:55.399 --> 00:00:57.380 complex realities of the post -Reconstruction 00:00:57.380 --> 00:00:59.280 South. Right. Because we tend to look at historical 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:01.899 figures and distill their legacy down into one 00:01:01.899 --> 00:01:03.979 defining achievement. Sure. We want the simple 00:01:03.979 --> 00:01:07.099 summary. Exactly. But the source material on 00:01:07.099 --> 00:01:08.959 Singleton reveals something much more dynamic. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:13.439 He was a man who, when faced with an impenetrable 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:17.400 legal or economic wall, he didn't retreat. He 00:01:17.400 --> 00:01:20.000 iterated. He iterated. Over and over again, he 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:22.140 found the loophole or he just built a new door 00:01:22.140 --> 00:01:24.019 entirely. So let's get into the foundational 00:01:24.019 --> 00:01:27.019 facts of his early life because they really set 00:01:27.019 --> 00:01:29.260 the psychological trajectory for everything that 00:01:29.260 --> 00:01:31.409 follows. They absolutely do. I know you listening 00:01:31.409 --> 00:01:33.329 are probably familiar with the broader strokes 00:01:33.329 --> 00:01:36.170 of the antebellum period, but the specifics of 00:01:36.170 --> 00:01:39.109 Singleton's timeline are crucial here. So what 00:01:39.109 --> 00:01:41.370 do the sources actually tell us about his beginnings? 00:01:41.590 --> 00:01:44.769 Well, he was born enslaved in 1809 in Davidson 00:01:44.769 --> 00:01:47.609 County, Tennessee. He was the son of a white 00:01:47.609 --> 00:01:50.549 father and an enslaved black mother. Okay. And 00:01:50.549 --> 00:01:52.909 during his early years, he was trained as a carpenter. 00:01:52.950 --> 00:01:56.030 Which is a highly skilled trade. Right. And the 00:01:56.030 --> 00:01:57.969 sources report that he made several unsuccessful 00:01:57.969 --> 00:02:01.069 attempts to escape slavery before finally breaking 00:02:01.069 --> 00:02:06.510 free in 1846. Wow, 1846. Yeah. He navigated the 00:02:06.510 --> 00:02:09.030 Underground Railroad, crocked over into Windsor, 00:02:09.030 --> 00:02:11.789 Ontario, and eventually he settled down in Detroit, 00:02:11.969 --> 00:02:14.639 Michigan. And this period in Detroit is where 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:17.819 his overarching philosophy really starts to crystallize. 00:02:17.860 --> 00:02:20.060 It is. You can think of him during this time 00:02:20.060 --> 00:02:23.370 as functioning like... Like an off -the -grid 00:02:23.370 --> 00:02:25.469 mutual aid organizer? That's a great way to put 00:02:25.469 --> 00:02:27.750 it. He was essentially living as a scavenger, 00:02:27.750 --> 00:02:30.810 just scraping by on whatever he could find. But 00:02:30.810 --> 00:02:33.449 he was taking those meager resources and using 00:02:33.449 --> 00:02:35.909 them to help other escaped slaves find their 00:02:35.909 --> 00:02:38.289 way to Canada. Yeah, he was building a localized 00:02:38.289 --> 00:02:40.930 network of survival long before the Civil War 00:02:40.930 --> 00:02:43.750 even began. Then the Civil War breaks out. And 00:02:43.750 --> 00:02:48.389 by 1862, the Union army has occupied Middle Tennessee. 00:02:48.669 --> 00:02:50.550 And what's fascinating here is what Singleton 00:02:50.550 --> 00:02:53.789 does next. Right. He makes this incredibly bold, 00:02:54.090 --> 00:02:56.770 highly calculated decision to return to his home 00:02:56.770 --> 00:02:59.889 state. He goes back. He goes back. He genuinely 00:02:59.889 --> 00:03:01.969 believed that under the protection of the Union 00:03:01.969 --> 00:03:05.389 lines, his freedom would be legally and physically 00:03:05.389 --> 00:03:08.449 secure. It makes sense on paper. It does. He 00:03:08.449 --> 00:03:11.319 sets up shop in Nashville. working as a cabinetmaker 00:03:11.319 --> 00:03:13.719 and a coffin maker, just attempting to build 00:03:13.719 --> 00:03:17.080 a stable, integrated economic life. But the realities 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:19.479 of the post -war South quickly shatter that illusion. 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:22.520 The sources detail a rather brutal aha moment 00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:24.740 for him regarding the actual state of freedom 00:03:24.740 --> 00:03:27.699 for black Americans. Yeah, the historical record 00:03:27.699 --> 00:03:29.680 shows that the political promises of equality 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:33.060 for Friedman were entirely failing to materialize. 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:36.240 Completely. Instead, Friedman faced severe economic 00:03:36.240 --> 00:03:40.150 suppression and systemic racial violence. Singleton 00:03:40.150 --> 00:03:42.930 observes the political leadership utterly failing 00:03:42.930 --> 00:03:45.469 to deliver on reconstruction promises. And he 00:03:45.469 --> 00:03:48.550 draws a pretty stark conclusion. He concludes, 00:03:48.810 --> 00:03:51.629 and rather astutely, that true economic independence 00:03:51.629 --> 00:03:53.650 was never going to be permitted in the white 00:03:53.650 --> 00:03:55.469 -dominated South. The system was rigged. The 00:03:55.469 --> 00:03:57.189 economic system was intentionally engineered 00:03:57.189 --> 00:03:59.849 to keep the newly freed population landless and 00:03:59.849 --> 00:04:02.870 dependent. Right. So if the existing system refuses 00:04:02.870 --> 00:04:06.229 your participation, the only logical next step 00:04:06.229 --> 00:04:10.530 is to build a parallel system. So in 1869, he 00:04:10.530 --> 00:04:13.289 teams up with a black minister named Columbus 00:04:13.289 --> 00:04:16.790 M. Johnson. Together, they start architecting 00:04:16.790 --> 00:04:19.009 a framework for black economic independence. 00:04:19.790 --> 00:04:22.129 So how did they actually attempt to execute this 00:04:22.129 --> 00:04:25.810 locally? By 1874, they officially formed the 00:04:25.810 --> 00:04:28.430 Edgefield Real Estate Association. The Edgefield 00:04:28.430 --> 00:04:30.750 Real Estate Association. Right. The strategy 00:04:30.750 --> 00:04:33.949 was to help African -Americans pool their extremely 00:04:33.949 --> 00:04:37.189 limited capital so they could acquire land collectively 00:04:37.189 --> 00:04:40.279 in the Nashville area. It's a brilliant collective 00:04:40.279 --> 00:04:42.899 bargaining approach to real estate. It is. It 00:04:42.899 --> 00:04:45.319 sounds perfect on paper, but the local white 00:04:45.319 --> 00:04:47.839 landowners actively block them. They absolutely 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:50.660 do. They refuse to bargain in good faith. And 00:04:50.660 --> 00:04:52.800 when they did entertain offers, they demanded 00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:55.699 exorbitantly inflated prices. They were intentionally 00:04:55.699 --> 00:04:57.860 pricing the association out of the market. Yeah, 00:04:57.939 --> 00:05:00.399 it was a localized monopoly designed specifically 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:03.089 to starve out the Freedmen's capital. And faced 00:05:03.089 --> 00:05:05.750 with that immovable economic barrier, Singleton 00:05:05.750 --> 00:05:08.689 makes his first massive geographic pivot. Okay, 00:05:08.769 --> 00:05:11.310 let's unpack this. He realizes that if they cannot 00:05:11.310 --> 00:05:14.110 buy land in Tennessee, they have to abandon the 00:05:14.110 --> 00:05:16.850 South entirely. They just have to leave. So they 00:05:16.850 --> 00:05:19.029 rename their group the Edgefield Real Estate 00:05:19.029 --> 00:05:23.290 and Homestead Association. By 1876, Singleton 00:05:23.290 --> 00:05:26.550 and Johnson are out west, scouting land in Kansas. 00:05:26.850 --> 00:05:29.850 Kansas. Yes. They target Cherokee County in the 00:05:29.850 --> 00:05:33.160 southeastern corner of the state. Singleton evaluates 00:05:33.160 --> 00:05:35.439 the agricultural potential. He likes what he 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:37.560 sees and he heads back to Nashville to organize 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:40.360 the migration. And he manages to recruit about 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:43.980 73 settlers for this initial venture. Right. 00:05:44.430 --> 00:05:46.889 In the summer of 1877, they make the journey 00:05:46.889 --> 00:05:49.509 to Cherokee County, fully prepared to negotiate 00:05:49.509 --> 00:05:51.610 with the railroad companies to purchase land 00:05:51.610 --> 00:05:54.649 for the proposed Singleton colony. But then history 00:05:54.649 --> 00:05:57.250 throws them a geological curveball. It completely 00:05:57.250 --> 00:06:00.129 wrecks the plan. It does. A massive lead mining 00:06:00.129 --> 00:06:02.910 boom takes off right in that specific area. A 00:06:02.910 --> 00:06:05.329 lead mining boom. Almost overnight, the land 00:06:05.329 --> 00:06:08.250 prices skyrocket due to the mineral rush. The 00:06:08.250 --> 00:06:10.430 funds Singleton and his settlers had so carefully 00:06:10.430 --> 00:06:12.970 pooled together were instantly rendered useless. 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:15.720 That is just heartbreaking. They had organized 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:17.779 the people, they had made the trek, and they 00:06:17.779 --> 00:06:20.439 were priced out all over again. But this time 00:06:20.439 --> 00:06:23.120 by an industrial boom rather than coordinated 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:26.160 racial exclusion. Exactly. The Cherokee County 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:29.399 colony fails before it even really begins. Now, 00:06:29.420 --> 00:06:31.360 most leaders would lose their coalition at that 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:33.879 point. I mean, I would. But he pivots again. 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:36.800 Yeah. If he can't buy prime real estate from 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:39.259 the railroads, how does he secure land for his 00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:41.100 people? He turns his attention to the federal 00:06:41.100 --> 00:06:44.990 government. He targets the 1862 Homestead Act 00:06:44.990 --> 00:06:48.189 to find available public land. Okay. He locates 00:06:48.189 --> 00:06:50.750 attractive marginal land on a former Kaw Indian 00:06:50.750 --> 00:06:54.610 Reservation near Dunlap, Kansas. Now, it is certainly 00:06:54.610 --> 00:06:57.810 not prime agricultural real estate, but the barrier 00:06:57.810 --> 00:07:00.430 to entry is manageable. The sheer administrative 00:07:00.430 --> 00:07:03.339 and physical grit... required for this next phase 00:07:03.339 --> 00:07:07.000 is just staggering. It really is. By 1878, Singleton 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:10.040 organizes a massive logistical operation. We 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:13.019 are looking at more than 2 ,400 settlers leaving 00:07:13.019 --> 00:07:16.980 Middle Tennessee. 2 ,400? Yes. They travel on 00:07:16.980 --> 00:07:19.279 steamboats up the Cumberland River, pushing all 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:21.500 the way to the Great Plains. And when they arrive, 00:07:21.720 --> 00:07:23.980 they aren't stepping into a pre -built infrastructure. 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:27.420 Not at all. I want you to picture this. For their 00:07:27.420 --> 00:07:29.639 first year on the prairie, most of these settlers 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:32.720 lived in dugouts. Wow. They literally carved 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:34.860 their initial shelters straight out of the earth. 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:37.439 Imagine the profound desire for autonomy required 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:40.160 to make that choice. Right. To pack up your family, 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:43.180 travel across the country, and choose the absolute 00:07:43.180 --> 00:07:46.379 harshest conditions of the windswept Great Plains 00:07:46.379 --> 00:07:48.920 over remaining subjugated in the South. It's 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:51.379 an incredible choice. They officially established 00:07:51.379 --> 00:07:54.899 the Dunlap Colony in 1879, and through sheer 00:07:54.899 --> 00:07:57.649 operational willpower, they actually made it 00:07:57.649 --> 00:07:59.870 a success which brings us to the tipping point 00:07:59.870 --> 00:08:02.370 where singleton's localized efforts suddenly 00:08:02.370 --> 00:08:04.730 thrust him onto the national stage yeah this 00:08:04.730 --> 00:08:08.870 is a huge shift between 1879 and 1880 we see 00:08:08.870 --> 00:08:12.189 the explosion of the great exodus roughly 50 00:08:12.189 --> 00:08:15.209 000 freedmen flee the poverty and racial violence 00:08:15.209 --> 00:08:18.100 of the south 50 ,000 people. Pouring into states 00:08:18.100 --> 00:08:20.680 like Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois. 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:24.079 They become known as the Exodusters. And the 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:26.800 influx into Kansas was so massive that a section 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:29.399 of Topeka officially became known as Tennessee 00:08:29.399 --> 00:08:32.980 Town. It is a demographic earthquake. Now, the 00:08:32.980 --> 00:08:35.120 sources are clear that Singleton did not personally 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:38.019 organize this massive wave of 50 ,000 people. 00:08:38.200 --> 00:08:40.860 He didn't lead all of them. No. Most of the Exodusters 00:08:40.860 --> 00:08:43.159 arrived entirely independent of his specific 00:08:43.159 --> 00:08:47.039 real estate associations. However, his pioneering 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:49.879 work with Dunlap and Cherokee County laid the 00:08:49.879 --> 00:08:52.519 conceptual groundwork for Kansas as a viable 00:08:52.519 --> 00:08:55.419 sanctuary state. He proved it was possible. Exactly. 00:08:55.639 --> 00:08:58.100 But when this tidal wave of desperately poor 00:08:58.100 --> 00:09:01.159 migrants started arriving, the local white Kansans 00:09:01.159 --> 00:09:03.399 began to loudly object to the strain on their 00:09:03.399 --> 00:09:05.870 resources. And Singleton steps into the void. 00:09:06.049 --> 00:09:08.049 He does. He becomes the national spokesman and 00:09:08.049 --> 00:09:10.230 the fierce public defender of the exodusters' 00:09:10.309 --> 00:09:12.230 right to migrate. Before we dive into how he 00:09:12.230 --> 00:09:14.090 handled this on a national level, we need to 00:09:14.090 --> 00:09:16.370 take a quick pause. The sources we are pulling 00:09:16.370 --> 00:09:18.629 from here contain highly polarized political 00:09:18.629 --> 00:09:21.429 records from the 1880s. Including those contentious 00:09:21.429 --> 00:09:23.840 Senate hearings. Yeah. And the platforms of various 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:26.080 historical political parties, just to be completely 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:29.259 clear for you listening. Our goal today is to 00:09:29.259 --> 00:09:31.399 examine the political strategies and historical 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:34.019 hearings exactly as they are presented in the 00:09:34.019 --> 00:09:36.740 source material. Right. We are impartially reporting 00:09:36.740 --> 00:09:38.940 on these events to understand Singleton's life. 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:41.639 And we're certainly not endorsing any of the 00:09:41.639 --> 00:09:44.539 historical party platforms or the polarized views 00:09:44.539 --> 00:09:47.539 of the politicians from that era. Exactly. And 00:09:47.539 --> 00:09:50.720 if we connect this to the bigger picture. With 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:53.460 that context in mind, we can look at his highly 00:09:53.460 --> 00:09:56.740 publicized 1880 United States Senate testimony. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:00.200 Yes. He is called to Washington, D .C. to testify 00:10:00.200 --> 00:10:03.919 about the root causes of the Great Exodus. The 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:05.860 political climate surrounding this migration 00:10:05.860 --> 00:10:08.679 was intensely fractured. Very fractured. The 00:10:08.679 --> 00:10:10.519 congressional record shows that several Southern 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:13.039 senators actively attempted to discredit the 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:15.440 Exodus movement. during the hearings. They tried 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:18.379 to frame it as an illegitimate movement artificially 00:10:18.379 --> 00:10:20.299 agitated by outside forces. Right, they wanted 00:10:20.299 --> 00:10:22.679 to spin the narrative. But Singleton held his 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:25.580 ground against the federal lawmakers. He testified 00:10:25.580 --> 00:10:28.539 on the undeniable economic success of the independent 00:10:28.539 --> 00:10:30.919 black colonies he had helped establish. He didn't 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:33.039 back down. And he laid out the unvarnished truth 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:35.720 about the violence and economic suppression driving 00:10:35.720 --> 00:10:38.820 freedmen out of the South. There is a direct 00:10:38.820 --> 00:10:41.000 quote from the notes of his testimony that really 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:43.200 captures the profound white of his motivation. 00:10:43.950 --> 00:10:46.769 I love this quote. Speaking directly to the senators, 00:10:47.049 --> 00:10:49.850 Singleton said, I have been a slave, fled to 00:10:49.850 --> 00:10:52.490 Canada when my children were small, and 19 years 00:10:52.490 --> 00:10:55.230 after when I returned, they were grown. It is 00:10:55.230 --> 00:10:58.370 such a stark reminder of the exact human cost 00:10:58.370 --> 00:11:01.409 that fueled his relentless drive. It really is. 00:11:01.590 --> 00:11:03.809 He returns to Kansas from those hearings as a 00:11:03.809 --> 00:11:06.269 nationally recognized figure, but the situation 00:11:06.269 --> 00:11:08.490 on the ground at the Dunlap colony was rapidly 00:11:08.490 --> 00:11:10.950 deteriorating. The influx was just too much. 00:11:11.289 --> 00:11:13.769 The massive wave of exodusters, many arriving 00:11:13.769 --> 00:11:16.769 entirely destitute, placed an unsustainable financial 00:11:16.769 --> 00:11:19.789 burden on the settlement. The original infrastructure 00:11:19.789 --> 00:11:22.289 simply could not support the sheer volume of 00:11:22.289 --> 00:11:26.320 refugees. So by 1880, the settlement is financially 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:29.799 overwhelmed. The Presbyterian Church steps in 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:32.480 to take charitable control of the town, initiating 00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:34.799 plans to build a freedman's academy. And once 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:37.000 that happens? Once the colony transitions from 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:39.779 an independent economic engine into a charitable 00:11:39.779 --> 00:11:42.820 enterprise, Singleton walks away. He does. He 00:11:42.820 --> 00:11:45.659 leaves Dunlap behind to start the next iteration 00:11:45.659 --> 00:11:48.279 of his vision. Which brings us to a fascinating 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:50.720 shift in his methodology. Here's where it gets 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:55.009 really interesting. In 1881, at 72 years old, 00:11:55.049 --> 00:11:57.870 a time when he is affectionately known as Ol' 00:11:57.950 --> 00:12:01.330 Pap, he forms a new organization in Topeka called 00:12:01.330 --> 00:12:04.460 the Colored United Links, or the CUL. Because 00:12:04.460 --> 00:12:06.779 of agriculture and land acquisition were becoming 00:12:06.779 --> 00:12:09.700 too difficult or too crowded with refugees, he 00:12:09.700 --> 00:12:12.159 decides to focus entirely on capital and industrial 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:15.720 training. Exactly. The goal of the CUL was to 00:12:15.720 --> 00:12:18.000 pool the financial resources of black people 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:20.840 to build black owned businesses, factories and 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:23.700 trade schools. He is attempting to build a self 00:12:23.700 --> 00:12:26.879 -sustaining economic ecosystem that isn't entirely 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:30.500 reliant on raw agricultural output. And the CUL 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:34.340 gains significant local traction. They hold conventions 00:12:34.340 --> 00:12:36.379 and organize enough of a base that they begin 00:12:36.379 --> 00:12:39.059 attracting the attention of political power players. 00:12:39.259 --> 00:12:41.519 Because they see the CUL as a highly organized 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:43.980 voting bloc. Right. Republican Party officials 00:12:43.980 --> 00:12:47.179 in Kansas start making overtures. Simultaneously, 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:49.820 James B. Weaver, who had been a presidential 00:12:49.820 --> 00:12:52.649 candidate for the... Greenback Party. The Greenback 00:12:52.649 --> 00:12:55.490 Party was heavily focused on anti -monopoly and 00:12:55.490 --> 00:12:58.710 monetary reform, right? Yes. Weaver meets with 00:12:58.710 --> 00:13:01.590 the CUL leaders to discuss a potential political 00:13:01.590 --> 00:13:03.889 fusion. Again, we are looking at this strictly 00:13:03.889 --> 00:13:07.230 through the lens of historical strategy. Both 00:13:07.230 --> 00:13:09.970 major political factions recognize the organized 00:13:09.970 --> 00:13:12.549 power Singleton had cultivated. They saw his 00:13:12.549 --> 00:13:15.090 influence. But despite the initial momentum in 00:13:15.090 --> 00:13:17.429 the high -level political meetings, the CUL membership 00:13:17.429 --> 00:13:20.710 begins to falter after 1881. The organization 00:13:20.710 --> 00:13:23.669 eventually dissolves. It does. And this failure 00:13:23.669 --> 00:13:26.490 seems to trigger a profound psychological shift 00:13:26.490 --> 00:13:28.990 in Singleton. He becomes convinced that black 00:13:28.990 --> 00:13:30.809 Americans are simply never going to be allowed 00:13:30.809 --> 00:13:33.309 to succeed within the American geopolitical system. 00:13:33.549 --> 00:13:36.210 The evolution of his ideas throughout the 1880s 00:13:36.210 --> 00:13:38.950 is incredibly rapid, and it scales far beyond 00:13:38.950 --> 00:13:42.830 domestic borders. He goes global. In 1883, he 00:13:42.830 --> 00:13:45.370 teams up with a St. Louis businessman and a black 00:13:45.370 --> 00:13:49.029 minister to propose a completely unprecedented 00:13:49.029 --> 00:13:52.750 idea. The migration of American blacks to the 00:13:52.750 --> 00:13:55.590 Mediterranean island of Cyprus. I mean, it sounds 00:13:55.590 --> 00:13:57.769 like a massive leap, but when you look at the 00:13:57.769 --> 00:14:00.509 geopolitical context of the era, the British 00:14:00.509 --> 00:14:03.190 had just acquired administrative control of Cyprus 00:14:03.190 --> 00:14:07.190 in 1878. Singleton is actively looking for any 00:14:07.190 --> 00:14:09.409 territory outside the jurisdiction of the United 00:14:09.409 --> 00:14:12.429 States where his people might start over. The 00:14:12.429 --> 00:14:14.129 Cyprus Initiative doesn't gain the necessary 00:14:14.129 --> 00:14:17.110 logistical traction, but the sheer ambition of 00:14:17.110 --> 00:14:20.480 the pivot... is remarkable. It is. And by 1885, 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:23.440 he moves to Kansas City and leans heavily into 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:26.559 early Pan -Africanism. He founds the United Transatlantic 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:29.000 Society, the UTS. So the objective shifts again. 00:14:29.259 --> 00:14:31.720 Yes, to relocating Black Americans to Africa, 00:14:31.899 --> 00:14:34.539 specifically exploring Western -influenced areas 00:14:34.539 --> 00:14:36.820 like Sierra Leone and Liberia. He wasn't the 00:14:36.820 --> 00:14:39.320 only one thinking this way. No, he is certainly 00:14:39.320 --> 00:14:42.039 not the only intellectual exploring this avenue 00:14:42.039 --> 00:14:44.759 at the time. Figures like Bishop Henry McNeil 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:47.320 Turner were also vocal proponents of African 00:14:47.870 --> 00:14:51.389 migration. But the UTS ultimately faces the same 00:14:51.389 --> 00:14:54.070 insurmountable logistical and financial hurdles. 00:14:54.190 --> 00:14:58.429 So by 1887, the UTS folds. Singleton's health 00:14:58.429 --> 00:15:00.929 is beginning to decline, and he largely steps 00:15:00.929 --> 00:15:03.529 back from the grueling pace of his public activism. 00:15:03.730 --> 00:15:06.929 But he doesn't stop completely. No. Incredibly, 00:15:07.070 --> 00:15:10.919 he raises his voice one final time in 1889. He 00:15:10.919 --> 00:15:13.200 issues a public call for a portion of the newly 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:16.580 opening Oklahoma Territory to be reserved exclusively 00:15:16.580 --> 00:15:19.759 as an all -black state. He never stopped hunting 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:22.179 for that safe haven. You never did. Benjamin 00:15:22.179 --> 00:15:25.580 Pabst Singleton died on February 17, 1900, in 00:15:25.580 --> 00:15:28.460 Kansas City, Missouri. 1900. Yeah. And for a 00:15:28.460 --> 00:15:30.379 long time, his massive contributions were largely 00:15:30.379 --> 00:15:32.940 treated as a footnote in broader historical narratives. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:37.200 But in 2002, the scholar Molefi Kitesande... 00:15:37.450 --> 00:15:40.029 officially recognized him as one of the 100 greatest 00:15:40.029 --> 00:15:42.649 African Americans. Cementing his legacy as a 00:15:42.649 --> 00:15:44.870 foundational architect of Black economic independence. 00:15:45.350 --> 00:15:49.549 So what does this all mean? When we evaluate 00:15:49.549 --> 00:15:52.470 a legacy of that magnitude, we can look at the 00:15:52.470 --> 00:15:54.570 colonies established, the political movements 00:15:54.570 --> 00:15:57.169 launched, and the demographic shifts engineered. 00:15:57.350 --> 00:16:00.250 Sure. But sometimes the most profound way to 00:16:00.250 --> 00:16:02.590 understand a person's impact is to look at the 00:16:02.590 --> 00:16:05.289 generations that follow them. The source material 00:16:05.289 --> 00:16:07.830 shares an incredible detail about his family 00:16:07.830 --> 00:16:10.889 that captures the long -term, multi -generational 00:16:10.889 --> 00:16:14.289 echo of his push for freedom. Yes. Singleton's 00:16:14.289 --> 00:16:16.889 son, Joshua, eventually moved west and settled 00:16:16.889 --> 00:16:19.429 in Ellensworth, California. Which was a historic, 00:16:19.590 --> 00:16:22.730 thriving, black agricultural settlement. Exactly. 00:16:22.730 --> 00:16:24.909 And Joshua's grandchildren grew up in the Bay 00:16:24.909 --> 00:16:27.690 Area, and they experienced a level of global 00:16:27.690 --> 00:16:30.169 mobility and cultural influence that Singleton 00:16:30.169 --> 00:16:32.720 himself could only have envisioned. Because those 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:34.639 grandchildren formed a singing group known as 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:36.799 the Williams Quartet. The Williams Quartet. By 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:39.379 1933, they were embarking on a highly successful 00:16:39.379 --> 00:16:41.960 international tour, performing in major cities 00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:44.220 across Shanghai, China, and throughout Japan. 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:47.590 That is just amazing. Furthermore, one of his 00:16:47.590 --> 00:16:50.169 great granddaughters, Midge Williams, went on 00:16:50.169 --> 00:16:53.529 to become a wildly successful swing jazz soloist 00:16:53.529 --> 00:16:57.070 in the 1930s and 40s. She recorded iconic music 00:16:57.070 --> 00:17:00.129 under the name Midge Williams and her jazz jesters. 00:17:00.309 --> 00:17:02.370 Just look at that multigenerational trajectory. 00:17:02.769 --> 00:17:05.910 You have a man born into slavery, making coffins 00:17:05.910 --> 00:17:08.769 in war -torn Tennessee, who spends his life violently 00:17:08.769 --> 00:17:11.630 forcing doors open, securing land, and fighting 00:17:11.630 --> 00:17:14.089 for capital. And two generations later... Two 00:17:14.089 --> 00:17:16.500 generations later, his... descendants are traveling 00:17:16.500 --> 00:17:18.839 the globe as celebrated international artists. 00:17:19.160 --> 00:17:22.180 It perfectly illustrates how his relentless iteration 00:17:22.180 --> 00:17:25.779 laid a bedrock foundation that allowed his family 00:17:25.779 --> 00:17:28.980 to thrive on a world stage. So synthesizing the 00:17:28.980 --> 00:17:31.140 core takeaways from the stack of sources we've 00:17:31.140 --> 00:17:33.359 gone through today, Benjamin Singleton's life 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:35.799 is the ultimate testament to the power of continuous 00:17:35.799 --> 00:17:38.599 strategic adaptation. Yes. When a racist real 00:17:38.599 --> 00:17:40.400 estate market blocked his path in Tennessee, 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:43.039 he navigated the federal bureaucracy to find 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:46.150 homestead land in Kansas. You pivoted. When his 00:17:46.150 --> 00:17:48.829 agricultural colony was overwhelmed by refugee 00:17:48.829 --> 00:17:52.349 crisis, he pivoted to building industrial business 00:17:52.349 --> 00:17:55.470 leagues in Topeka. When the American political 00:17:55.470 --> 00:17:58.230 system proved to be a permanent dead end, he 00:17:58.230 --> 00:18:01.049 drew up ambitious blueprints for Cyprus and Pan 00:18:01.049 --> 00:18:04.130 -African relocation. He simply refused to accept 00:18:04.130 --> 00:18:06.869 the parameters that society tried to impose upon 00:18:06.869 --> 00:18:09.490 him. He really did. Which brings us to a detail 00:18:09.490 --> 00:18:11.630 from the sources that we've intentionally saved 00:18:11.630 --> 00:18:13.970 for this exact moment. This raises an important 00:18:13.970 --> 00:18:16.730 question. It does. When we discussed his early 00:18:16.730 --> 00:18:19.089 life, we noted that he was trained as a carpenter. 00:18:19.579 --> 00:18:22.680 But the historical record reveals a crucial underlying 00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:25.980 reality about his capabilities. Benjamin Singleton 00:18:25.980 --> 00:18:29.200 deeply regretted that he never learned to read 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.039 and write. I really want you to let that sink 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:33.380 in for a moment. Benjamin Pap Singleton built 00:18:33.380 --> 00:18:36.200 complex real estate associations. He navigated 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:38.960 the dense legalese of the 1862 Homestead Act. 00:18:39.160 --> 00:18:41.319 He sat down and debated fiercely with United 00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:44.279 States senators on the national stage. He organized 00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:48.319 massive multi -state migrations and architected 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:50.900 international pan -African relocation societies. 00:18:51.339 --> 00:18:55.259 And he executed every single bit of that while 00:18:55.259 --> 00:18:58.240 carrying the profound burden of illiteracy. It 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:01.319 entirely recontextualizes his achievements. His 00:19:01.319 --> 00:19:03.720 power didn't come from the resources he possessed 00:19:03.720 --> 00:19:07.039 on paper. It came from the strategic vision he 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:09.519 held in his mind. and the absolute conviction 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:12.220 in his voice. It makes you wonder, if Benjamin 00:19:12.220 --> 00:19:15.180 Singleton achieved all of this, engineering massive 00:19:15.180 --> 00:19:17.680 migrations and reshaping the American demographic 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:20.119 landscape without being able to write a single 00:19:20.119 --> 00:19:23.099 letter, how many other unrecognized architects 00:19:23.099 --> 00:19:25.420 of history are buried in the archives simply 00:19:25.420 --> 00:19:27.099 because they couldn't write their own stories 00:19:27.099 --> 00:19:29.619 down? How much of human progress has been forged 00:19:29.619 --> 00:19:32.279 by voices we will never get to read? It's a phenomenal 00:19:32.279 --> 00:19:34.599 story and a powerful reminder to look beyond 00:19:34.599 --> 00:19:36.579 the written record. We want to warmly thank you 00:19:36.579 --> 00:19:38.589 for joining us on this deep... dive today. Keep 00:19:38.589 --> 00:19:40.549 questioning, keep exploring the hidden corners 00:19:40.549 --> 00:19:42.410 of history, and we will catch you next time.