The Exoduster Movement: A History of Black Social Entrepreneurship

Grandma Josephine “Braham”Johnson was born on June 18th, 1838, near Gallatin, Tennessee. She and her husband, Columbus Johnson, gained their freedom shortly after 1851. The couple later moved to Kansas where Josephine had a boarding house and sold vegetables, chickens, eggs, milk and butter. She died on April 6th,1910.

Grandma Harriet Braham was born in 1820 in Tennessee. She was the mother of 13 children and a slave on the Branham Mill in Summer Tennessee. She died in 1883 in Kansas.

Grandpa Columbus Johnson was born in Maryland in 1824, the child of a free man and a slave woman who purchased her freedom. His mother died when lightning struck a tree, and Columbus was taken to Tennessee where he was auctioned. Johnson learned several trades including harness making and carpentry. He could read and write and frequently read newspapers. While employed at the Braham Mill, he met and married Grandma Josephine, Columbus Johnson served in the Civil War, and when he was mustered out, he returned to Gallatin, Tennessee.

In 1869, Benjamin Singleton, Columbus Johnson and others organized the Tennessee Real Estate Homestead Association. They learned that homesteads were available in Kansas. Johnson went to Topeka where he was active in the Kansas Colonization project with Benjamin“Pap”Singleton, under the auspices of the Freedman's Aid Society. GrandmaJosephine and family would later join him in Topeka. In 1884, he moved the family to Dunlap where he was active in the community. In June 1884, Johnson and five white businessmen organized the Farmers Bank of Dunlap. He was a trustee in the St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church and one of the shareholders and organizers of the Dunlap Colored Cemetery Association. GrandpaColumbus died October 17, 1894.

 The Exoduster Movement 

The Exoduster Movement, beginning in 1877, was the first grass-roots movement out of the South, during which, between 40,000 and 70,000 former slaves departed the South, primarily for Kansas. Benjamin Singleton was the official leader of the Exoduster Movement.

Brown Venture Group

As a direct descendent of these Entrepreneurial Exodusters I co-founded Brown Venture Group. I did this because I believe that the work that my ancestors began, which was to create a better life for African Americans, has not yet been completed. Brown Venture Group sole mission is to see a world where all talent has access to transformational capital. Are you ready to join us? 

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*Updated on 10.2.2023