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    African American Topeka
    African American Topeka
    African American Topeka
    Ebook207 pages2 hours

    African American Topeka

    By Sherrita Camp

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    African Americans arrived in Topeka right before and after the Civil War and again in large numbers during the Exodus Movement of 1879 and Great Migration of 1910. They came in protest of the treatment they received in the South. The history of dissent lived on in Topeka, as it became the home to court cases protesting discrimination of all kinds. African Americans came to the city determined that education would provide them a better life. Black educators fostered a sense of duty toward schooling, and in 1954 Topeka became a landmark for African Americans across the country with the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education case. Blacks from every walk of life found refuge in Kansas and, especially, Topeka. The images in African American Topeka have been selected to give the reader a glimpse into the heritage of black life in the community. The richness of the culture and values of this Midwestern city are a little-known secret just waiting to be exhibited.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 2, 2013
    ISBN9781439643884
    African American Topeka
    Author

    Sherrita Camp

    Author and historian Sherrita Camp has explored black heritage going back to the days of slavery and the Exodus of 1879. Her extensive family research into the lives of Topekans has allowed her to share with the reader a unique approach to African Americans in Topeka through genealogy.

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      Book preview

      African American Topeka - Sherrita Camp

      noted.

      INTRODUCTION

      The history of African Americans in Topeka is unique in US history—not just because slaves escaped through the Underground Railroad to Topeka or because, prior to and during the Civil War, Kansas was a free state that bordered the slave state of Missouri. Other cities can claim the same. The history of African Americans in Topeka is unique for four distinct reasons. First, the final battle over slavery started in Topeka with the Free State Constitutional Convention of 1856, two years after Kansas became a territory. Here began the process of creating a territorial government that outlawed slavery in its new constitution, a development helped lead to the Civil War. Second, shortly after the Civil War, a mass exodus of former slaves came from the South to make Topeka their home. Third, the US Supreme Court’s 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka changed education and civil rights in the nation forever. Finally, many famous blacks had their starts in Topeka. Through photographs, this work showcases this rich history, telling the story of these distinctive people and the events that involved and impacted them.

      The conflict over slavery began when part of the vast region that had been Indian Territory became Kansas Territory in 1854. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 opened up this land, which was inhabited by many Native American tribes, for westward expansion of the United States. It also effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by allowing the new settlers to decide if they wanted to allow slavery in their territory. At this same time, the history of African Americans in Topeka also began.

      In the early years of the Kansas Territory, Topeka became a haven for runaway slaves, as well as conductors who aided them on the Underground Railroad. Those who escaped slavery and traveled the Underground Railroad to Topeka found safe passage north because of the assistance of abolitionist friends such as James Lane, John Ritchie, John Brown, Jacob Willites, Daniel Sheridan, and Rev. Lewis Bodwell, who helped them at the peril of their own lives. Some of the African American Topekans documented in this book could trace their family history back to those years before Kansas became a state.

      The expansion of settlements into the new Kansas Territory also meant the opportunity for the extension of slavery into the area. This possibility caused both the pro-slavery forces and the abolitionists to flood Kansas with supporters who sought to influence the vote in their favor. The clash of these two groups resulted in bloodshed, with each side determined to have its own way. The troubles in Kansas between these two forces eventually played out on the national stage and, in 1861, erupted into the Civil War.

      In January 1862, Gen. James Lane, an abolitionist, declared that it was the duty of Kansas to make Missouri a free state. After January 1863, African Americans were officially allowed to fight for the cause in the US Army. The 1st and 2nd Kansas Colored Troops were the first all-black regiments in Kansas to fight against slavery. Their valiant efforts during Civil War battles have been duly noted in history books, and a memorial now stands in Washington, DC, as a testament to their valor.

      At the beginning of the Civil War, hundreds of slaves escaped into Kansas after Union troops occupied Missouri. After leaving their masters, they traveled along with the military units. Many Missouri slaves also escaped to Kansas in 1862 after the Missouri River froze. Those refugees were aided by the Underground Railroad, which traveled through Lawrence to Topeka, then north on Lane’s Trail and beyond.

      Some blacks came to Topeka after the Civil War. Many had fought in the conflict and settled in Topeka during the Reconstruction era to take advantage of opportunities they had never before experienced: chances for political office, education, employment, and a rich social life. For the first time, these African Americans began to enjoy some of the freedoms and rights of American citizenship.

      Topeka also became a beacon to the freed slaves who wanted to escape the harsh laws in the South that followed the abolition of slavery. Looking for a better way of life, blacks began to leave the South to organize colonies in Topeka and in other towns on the eastern border of Kansas. After the end of Reconstruction, however, the migration known as the Great Exodus of 1879 found blacks fleeing the South by the thousands. During this period, the Exodusters left the South and headed for Kansas, where former slaves found freedom from the continued threat to their liberty and their lives.

      The black newspapers in Kansas carried information from one black community to another throughout the state and the nation. The black community was just that: a community. It did not matter where in Kansas these African Americans lived, they all were a part of the same community, and the black newspapers were the connectors. Topeka had many black newspapers over the years. The longest-running publication was the Plaindealer, which carried the news to black communities all over Kansas. The chronicles in these newspapers are now important sources for the history of African Americans in Topeka.

      Thomas Cox used the Plaindealer as a foundation for his research on the black history of Topeka. He documented his work in his book, Blacks in Topeka, Kansas: 1865–1915, A Social History in 1982. A longtime Topekan whose ancestry included generations of community leaders, Cox used insights and information from his family in writing his influential work. Like Cox, this author of African American Topeka has generations of Topeka relatives and strong ties to the spirit of the black community. This work will build on Cox’s work by using images that illustrate the significance of historical events, places, and African Americans in Topeka.

      The images of African American Topeka show the role that Topeka has played in the African American experience in Kansas and in the United States. They also illustrate many of the experiences that blacks in Topeka shared with African Americans from many other parts of the country during the last 150 years: for example, their efforts to build a strong community during the Jim Crow era, when separate but equal policies for schools and other segregation and discrimination existed. This book also shows that the all-black elementary schools and businesses became a viable asset in the formation of the black community in Topeka and that churches, civic organizations, and recreational activities became its strength and foundation.

      As time brought changes for African Americans throughout the country, change also came to

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