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Bibliography Sources:

James H. Madison. Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana (Indiana University Press: Bloomington, IN, 2016).

Jack S. Blocker, Jr. "Black Migration to Muncie, 1860 to 1930." Indiana Magazine of History. Vol. 92, No. 4 (December 1996), pp. 297-320.

Civil War, Exodusters, and the Great Migration
Article 13 of the 1851 Indiana Constitution was deemed ‘unconstitutional’ in 1866, but was not amended until 1881. Indiana’s Black population increased after the Civil War mostly along the Ohio River, such as Spencer County, Indiana, which included 947 Black citizens by 1870.

As Reconstruction ended in the South, former enslaved peoples wanted to move north, which included the migration of Black people from North Carolina to Indiana. Black people who migrated from the South after the Civil War were known as Exodusters, who were in search of access to good schools, Black community-centered churches, and job opportunities. Many migrants during this time who arrived in Indiana were met with anti-Black violence and forced to relocate due to Indiana's numerous sundown towns. Black communities around Indianapolis tried to help those who had migrated, but many of the Exodusters became discouraged and went back to North Carolina. Those who stayed often settled in Indianapolis, contributing to the city's Black population growth.

The Black population in 1880 was 39,228 and by 1900 it was 57,960.

During the Great Migration, Black individuals who came to Indiana between 1910 and 1920, often settled in central or northern parts of the states. New opportunities were available due to industrialization and the war economy, and rumors of new opportunities were appealing.