Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 18:48, 21 August 2024

Black South Dakotans are residents of the U.S. state of South Dakota who are of African-American ancestry. African Americans have been present in South Dakota since before its statehood, when the area was part of Dakota Territory.

History

Pre-statehood

The earliest known Black person to have entered what would become South Dakota was York, an explorer and enslaved man who accompanied Clark on the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804. Recounting an enounter with local Native Americans, Clark wrote in his journal, "York made Inds. believe that he had been wild like bear & tamed.... Those who had seen whites and not blacks thought him something strange and from his very large size more vicious than whites. Those who had seen neither made no difference between white & black".

When Dakota Territory was established in 1862, Governor William Jayne urged the legislature to prohibit slavery. Until 1868, language in its organic act prohibited non-white men from voting and barred non-white children from attending public schools; the word "white" in both cases was removed in 1868. By 1870, 94 African Americans had moved to the territory, many moving from the Gulf Coast by way of the Missouri River. These earliest African-American settlers primarily settled in Yankton, Buffalo, and Bon Homme Counties, and in settlements like Yankton.

On George Armstrong Custer's Black Hills Expedition of 1874, the only woman in attendance was Sarah Campbell, an African-American woman who worked as a cook. During the resultant Black Hills gold rush, several African Americans moved to the Black Hills, as many as 100 by 1880.

During the 1880s, the 25th Infantry Regiment, a segregated division of Buffalo Soldiers, was stationed at several Dakota Territory forts: first at Fort Randall, then Fort Hale, and finally at Fort Meade. The 25th quelled conflicts between the U.S. government and settlers with Native Americans, provided disaster relief to settlers after heavy flooding in 1881, and participated in civil duties. During 1881, members of the 25th accompanied Sitting Bull from Saskatchewan, Canada, to Fort Randall, where he would be imprisoned for two years. Conflicts between local residents of Sturgis arose in 1885, resulting in one lynching of a soldier, two civilian deaths, and a raid by soldiers on a brothel. One resident wrote to President Grover Cleveland asking that the regiment be reassigned. The letter was forwarded to Alfred Terry, then commander of the Dakota Territory troops, who reviewed the situation and rejected the request. The 25th stayed at Fort Meade until 1892.

Statehood and early 20th century

Beginning in the 1880s, several African-American families began moving to Yankton. They established the Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1885. In 1883, the Blair family settled homestead claims in rural Sully County. In 1906, Benjamin Blair and other Black community leaders met in Yankton to found the Northwestern Homestead Movement with the purpose of encouraging other Black families to move to South Dakota. As more families joined the Blairs in Sully County, the area became known as Blair Colony or the Sully County Colored Colony. During the early 20th century, other African Americans settled in urban centers like Yankton, Sioux Falls, Huron, and Mitchell; or in more rural areas like Edgemont and Mellette County.

Population growth briefly slowed during World War I but resumed again in the 1920s. The 1920 US Census counted 832 Black South Dakotans, 144 of whom were in Yankton and 83 in Sioux Falls. By this time, anti-Black racism began to increase in South Dakota, which before had largely consisted of isolated incidents. The Ku Klux Klan saw a statewide increase in membership during this time and held marches n Sioux Falls and burned crosses in Yankton and the Black Hills. In response, Black residents of Sioux Falls and Yankton founded branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

The Great Depression and Dust Bowl heavily affected all South Dakotans. In 1930, only 308 of the 646 Black South Dakotans counted in the 1930 US Census were employed. Louise Mitchell, a Sioux Falls cosmetologist, founded the Booker T. Washington Service Center in 1930, a charity to help impoverished and homeless local African Americans. Many Black South Dakotans found work in Sioux Falls as cosmetologists, studying under Mitchell and James Moxley. Others joined the Civilian Conservation Corps or worked in construction. Many Black South Dakotans moved away due to the harships of the Great Depression. Blair Colony was largely abandoned by 1940 as most of its residents moved away, looking for work.

In 1930, the first Get-To-Gether Picnic, a gathering of Black South Dakotans, was held. The event later grew to attract African Americans from neighbouring states. During the early 20th century, four more African-American churches were founded: Second Baptist Church in Yankton in 1916, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Huron, and Saint John's Baptist Church and Pilgrim Baptist Church in Sioux Falls in 1917 and 1930, respectively. These churches were a center of social life and connected parishioners with resources and social programs and hosted community events.

Demographics

During the 2022 American Community Survey (ACS), 5,837 respondents claimed Sub-Saharan African heritage. The ACS also estimated 5,350 South Dakota residents were born in Africa.

Notable peope

This is a list of notable African Americans who were born, raised, or spent a significant amount of time in South Dakota.

• Cleveland Abbott, athlete and educator
• Nat Love, cowboy and writer
• Oscar Micheaux, filmmaker

Notes

1. Figures do not include individuals who self-identified as multiracial.

References

1. Bernson & Eggers 1977, pp. 241–242.
2. Bernson & Eggers 1977, pp. 242–243.
3. Bernson & Eggers 1977, p. 244.
4. Bernson & Eggers 1977, pp. 245–247.
5. Bernson & Eggers 1977, pp. 247–249.
6. Bernson & Eggers 1977, p. 250.
7. ^ Andrews, John (February 4, 2014). "Freedom in Sully County". South Dakota Magazine. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
8. Friefeld et al. 2019, p. 19.
9. Bernson & Eggers 1977, p. 252.
10. Bernson & Eggers 1977, p. 253.
11. Bernson & Eggers 1977, p. 254.
12. ^ Bernson & Eggers 1977, p. 256.
13. Bernson & Eggers 1977, p. 255.
14. ^ Bernson & Eggers 1977, p. 261.
15. Bernson & Eggers 1977, pp. 257–258.
16. Bernson & Eggers 1977, pp. 258–260.
17. "Explore Census Data". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
18. "ACS 1-Year Estimates: DP02 Selected Social Characteristics in the United States". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
19. ^ "February is Black History Month". South Dakota State Historical Society. Retrieved August 21, 2024.

Bibliography

• Bernson, Sara L.; Eggers, Robert J. (1977). "Black People in South Dakota History" (PDF). South Dakota History. 7 (3): 241–270. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
• Friefeld, Jacob K.; Eckstrom, Mikal Brotnov; Edwards, Richard (Winter 2019). "African American Homesteader "Colonies" in the Settling of the Great Plains" (PDF). Great Plains Quarterly. 39 (1): 11–37. Retrieved July 28, 2024.

Further reading

• Vanepps-Taylor, Betti (2008). Forgotten Lives: African Americans in South Dakota. South Dakota Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0977795550.

External links

• "Black History in South Dakota" via the South Dakota Oral History Center at the University of South Dakota

v t e State of South Dakota
Pierre (capital)
Topics	Outline Cities Climate change Famous South Dakotans Geography Government Delegations Elections History Bibliography Timeline State Parks Symbols Tourist attractions Towns and villages Townships Transportation
Society	Abortion Cannabis Culture Crime Demographics African Americans Economy Education Colleges and universities Gun laws LGBT rights Politics
Regions	Badlands Black Hills Coteau des Prairies Missouri Coteau Dissected Till Plains Drift Prairie East River Pine Ridge Siouxland West River
Larger incorporated places pop. over 5,000	Aberdeen Belle Fourche Box Elder Brandon Brookings Harrisburg Huron Madison Mitchell Pierre Rapid City Sioux Falls Spearfish Sturgis Tea Vermillion Watertown Yankton
Smaller incorporated places pop. 1,000 - 5,000	Aurora Baltic Beresford Britton Canton Chamberlain Clark Clear Lake Crooks Custer De Smet Deadwood Dell Rapids Eagle Butte Elk Point Flandreau Fort Pierre Freeman Garretson Gettysburg Gregory Groton Hartford Hot Springs Lead Lemmon Lennox Milbank Miller Mission Mobridge North Sioux City Parker Parkston Piedmont Platte Redfield Salem Sisseton Springfield Summerset Tyndall Volga Wagner Webster Winner
Largest CDPs pop. over 1,000	Blackhawk Colonial Pine Hills Dakota Dunes Fort Thompson Green Valley North Eagle Butte North Spearfish Oglala Pine Ridge Rapid Valley Rosebud
Counties	Aurora Beadle Bennett Bon Homme Brookings Brown Brule Buffalo Butte Campbell Charles Mix Clark Clay Codington Corson Custer Davison Day Deuel Dewey Douglas Edmunds Fall River Faulk Grant Gregory Haakon Hamlin Hand Hanson Harding Hughes Hutchinson Hyde Jackson Jerauld Jones Kingsbury Lake Lawrence Lincoln Lyman Marshall McCook McPherson Meade Mellette Miner Minnehaha Moody Oglala Lakota Pennington Perkins Potter Roberts Sanborn Spink Stanley Sully Todd Tripp Turner Union Walworth Yankton Ziebach
South Dakota portal

Category:African Americans in South Dakota Category:African-American history of South Dakota