How do so many black people end up in Nicodemus, Kansas in the play, Flyin' West?

Sophie, Fannie, and Minnie come to Kansas from Memphis with promises of land and a fresh start. Although slavery has ended, Jim Crow laws are in place, and there are still obstacles for blacks in the south. The thousands that head west do not know what is ahead of them, but they do know that what they leave behind is not all good.