THE GREAT MIGRATION

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines movement as: the act or process of moving. ESPECIALLY: change of place or position or posture. 

Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. As the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war.

As we know, the Proclamation declared that all persons that were captive slaves, within the rebellious states are and henceforward shall be free.

We know that slavery ended in 1865, and some states did not get the information until later in 1866. The results of this news, started The Great Migration. Massive amounts of freed enslaved people moved north. But what did they use for transportation? I used to think that ex-slaves traveled by horse and carriage. This may have been true for some, but not for others. Some walked to where they had to go, others stayed put for fear of the unknown.

For my family and others, they took the train. 

I have done some detective work and found out the route that my Sanders family took to get to Arkansas. From Greensville, South Carolina the families took the Seaboard Air Line (This was the name of the train line, not an airport.) The Seaboard traveled from Greensville, South Carolina, Atlanta, Ga., Birmingham, Alabama, to Memphis, Tenn. They would have had to change trains. The second part of the journey was on the Frisco Line, which ran from Memphis, Tenn. up through Arkansas by way of Plumberville, Morrilton, Germantown, and Atkins, Arkansas.

Later, The Frisco Line would become what we know as The Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe Railway