African - Americans , both enslaved and free , founded the city of Charleston . Westward migration of freed people from the South eventually led to towns such as Allensworth , chartered in 1908 in rural Tulare County . Wichita , Kansas , is oldest surviving African - American settlement west of the Mississippi . Saint Helena Island , in South Carolina , was a safe haven for freed slaves as early as slavery .
African - Americans , both enslaved and free , founded the city of Charleston . Wichita , Kansas , is oldest surviving African - American settlement west of the Mississippi . Saint Helena Island , in South Carolina , was a safe haven for freed slaves as early as slavery .