In the 1870s, thousands of African Americans fled the poverty and racial unrest that followed the American Civil War to homestead on the plains of Kansas as Exodusters, some seeking separate, self-sufficient agricultural communities that offered political autonomy. They soon spread beyond Kansas into other Plains States and eventually to Empire, Wyoming, where by 1912 a flourishing community of almost fifty people from several branches of the Speese and Taylor families worked to turn the arid plains into productive farmland through dryland farming techniques. Empire had its own post office and a Presbyterian church established by Reverend Russell Taylor, who also administered the local public school. In the early 20th century, when race relations in America were at a low point, Wyoming saw five African Americans, including Taylor's brother Baseman, lynched by whites or killed by law enforcement between 1904 and 1920, while Empire residents were often denied service at restaurants and hotels in Torrington and faced laws enforcing racial separation. Through Taylor's leadership, the people of Empire found empowerment as he used his education and ministry to advocate for the community in editorials and local and state politics, including fighting for the right to choose African American schoolteachers as role models for Empire's children.