The Moses of Tacoma
A Tacoma minister initiates an ambitious, secret plan to assist Black families fleeing the Jim Crow South for the Pacific Northwest.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
It has developed that Rev. J. Francis Davidson, pastor of the Mount Olivet Baptist church in Tacoma, who left for New Orleans recently, is a key western worker in an organization dedicated to a great negro exodus from the South. The leaders have framed a plan to help those fleeing the anti-negro agitation in the South find more congenial communities in the West. Before leaving, Rev. Mr. Davidson stated that he was going to New Orleans to return with sober, industrious colored people for those desiring help. In a farewell sermon, he referred to his trip and the condition of the colored people there, stating he went to 'seek my brethren.' Southern headquarters are in Georgia, but the location is kept secret for fear of mob violence or interference from whites.
“The movement is undertaken because of the anti-negro agitation now sweeping over some of the southern states, and is an attempt on the part of the colored element to find more congenial communities for development.”
This reflects the real-world pressures that drove the Great Migration. It highlights how community leaders in the Pacific Northwest actively navigated the risks of Southern state-sanctioned violence to create new possibilities for freedom.
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