“He Could Not Stay Away from Her Any Longer”: 19th-Century African American Emigration and Separation of Kin

African Americans seeking an escape from the threat of slavery in the United States in the 1840s often considered economic and social mobility for their families when deciding to leave the country. However, the financial realities of their lives did not always allow for loved ones to leave the United States together. Husbands and wives, children and parents, siblings, and other forms of kin regularly departed for foreign shores without one another. Family separation often accompanied emigration plans for a number of reasons. This paper relies on the letters from African Americans who emigrated from Maryland to (formerly) British Guiana during the 1840s. Their letters reveal that the actions taken by Black Baltimoreans demonstrate that hopes of achieving more abundant possibilities for their families through emigration also spurred the separation of those families, even if temporarily. These letters illustrate yearnings for loved ones while also expressing hope and excitement for a future together. Exploring separation in instances of emigration adds complexity to the ways historians understand emigration debates and the subsequent emotional conflicts emigrants faced.