'PAP" SINGLETON, THE MOSES OF THE COLORED
EXODUS *
PROFESSOR WALTER L. FLEMING Louisiana State University
During an investigation of that movement of negroes from the South to Kansas in 1879-80, known as the "Colored Exodus," the writer of this sketch was impressed by the importance of the activity and influence of one man, an ignorant negro, who in him- self seemed to embody the longings and the strivings of the bewildered negro race. His name was Benjamin Singleton, but on account of his advanced age and kindly disposition most people called him "Pap;" he himself later added and insisted upon the title, "The Moses of the Colored Exodus." He was born a slave in 1809 at Nashville, in middle Tennessee, and was by occu- pation a carpenter and cabinet maker. Evidently he was of a rest- less disposition, and probably his master considered him "trifling," for "Pap" asserted that although he was "sold a dozen times or more" to the Gulf States, yet he always ran away and came back to Tennessee. Finally he decided to strike for Canada and free- dom, and after failing in three attempts he made his way over the "Underground Railway" to Ontario, opposite Detroit. Soon afterward he came back to Detroit where he worked, he says, until 1865 as a "scavenger," and also kept a "secret boarding- house for fugitive slaves."
Singleton was not of imposing appearance. From newspaper descriptions of him written during the 70's we learn that he was a slender man, below medium height, a light mulatto with long, wavy iron-gray hair, gray mustache, and thin chin whiskers.^ His square jaw showed strength of character; he had "full quick
- This investigation was materially aided by a grant from the Carnegie
Institution, Department of Economics and Sociology.
- In the Kansas Historical Society Collections, Vol. IX, p. 383, is a por-
trait of Singleton.
61
