Why didn't four million freed black people leave the United States and return to Africa? Deep Roots in America: Why Former Slaves Didn't LeaveFor most African Americans by 1865, the United States was the only home they had ever known. Free Black communities were living proof that Black people could thrive in freedom, and they often aided escaped slaves. They had fought and died in every American war, including the Revolutionary War and the Civil War itself (after 1863). Reconstruction Dreams: Why Freed Slaves Chose to Build in the SouthFor most, the dream wasn't to sail across an ocean.