Benjamin "Pap" Singleton
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton | |
|---|---|
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| Born | August 15, 1809 |
| Died | February 17, 1900 (aged 90) |
Resting place | Union Cemetery Kansas City, Missouri |
| Movement | Abolitionist |
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton (August 15, 1809 – February 17, 1900) was an American activist and businessman best known for his role in establishing African American settlements in Kansas. A former slave from Tennessee who escaped to freedom in Ontario in 1846, he returned to the United States, settling for a period in Detroit. He became a noted abolitionist, community leader, and spokesman for African-American civil rights.
Singleton returned to Tennessee during the Union occupation in 1862 but concluded that blacks would never achieve economic equality in the white-dominated South. After the end of Reconstruction, Singleton organized the movement of thousands of black colonists, known as Exodusters, to found settlements in the free state of Kansas. A prominent voice for early black nationalism, he became involved in promoting and coordinating black-owned businesses in Kansas and developed an interest in the Back-to-Africa movement.