African Americans in Kansas
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| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 178,725[1] (2019) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Wichita[2] | |
| Languages | |
| Midland American English, African-American Vernacular English, African languages | |
| Religion | |
| Black Protestant | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| African Americans |
| Part of a series on |
| African Americans |
|---|
There is an African-American community in Kansas, including in Kansas City, Kansas.[3] Nicodemus, Kansas is the oldest surviving town west of the Mississippi River settled solely by African Americans.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was decided in 1954.[4]
As of the 2020 U.S. Census, African Americans were 5.7% of the state's population. They are concentrated in Wyandotte County and Geary County.[5]
History
[edit]Kansas was admitted to the United States as a free state in 1861. Some Black slaves were imported to Kansas. Many Black migrants came from the Southern United States as hired laborers while others traveled to Kansas as escaped slaves via the Underground Railroad. Some moved from the South during the Kansas Exodus in the 1860s. Kansas was not immune from Jim Crow segregation, race riots, white supremacy and violence from racist white people. Newspapers have documented incidents of white people lynching a black man in Fort Scott and white mobs attacking black Americans held in jails in Leavenworth, Topeka, and Kansas City.[6]
In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was decided and desegregated schools nationwide.[4]
Geography
[edit]Nicodemus, Kansas was settled by African Americans in the 1870s, commemorated in the Nicodemus National Historic Site. Nicodemus is the oldest remaining town settled entirely by African Americans located west of the Mississippi River. Most of the town's founders were formerly enslaved.[7] Most Black people in Kansas originally lived in the Eastern portions of the state because the Underground Railroad had stops there.[8] Kansas City also has a significant Black population.
Media
[edit]![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2021) |
The Call is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri and also is distributed to African-Americans in Kansas City, Kansas.[citation needed]
Politics
[edit] | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2021) |
In 1888, Republican Alfred Fairfax was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives, becoming the first African American in the state legislature.[9] Today, the Kansas African American Legislative Caucus exists to represent Black members of the Kansas Legislature.[citation needed]
In 2011, Carl Brewer became the first elected Black mayor of Wichita, the state's largest city.[10]
Education
[edit] | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2023) |
Sumner High School was a racially segregated high school in Kansas City, Kansas.[11] The Interstate Literary Association was established in Topeka in 1892. It was a multi-state education organization for African Americans.
Notable people
[edit] | This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2023) |
- Janelle Monáe, a singer and actress[12]
- Bobby Lashley
- Gordon Parks
- George Washington Carver
- Langston Hughes
- Hattie McDaniel
- Gale Sayers
- Barry Sanders
- Elwood "Bingo" DeMoss
- Charles "Bird" Parker
- Coleman Hawkins
- Eva Jessye
See also
[edit]
- History of Kansas
- Demographics of Kansas
- History of slavery in Kansas
- List of African-American newspapers in Kansas
References
[edit]- ^ "Kansas Black population, 2010-2022".
- ^ John Pilz (2019). Finding Shared Understanding Between African Americans and the Police Through Simulated Experiences. Dorrance. ISBN 9781480986060.
- ^ "African American Residents in Kansas - Kansapedia - Kansas Historical Society". www.kshs.org. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ^ a b "Civil Rights Movement History & Timeline, 1954". www.crmvet.org. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
- ^ KANSAS: 2020 Census
- ^ Seeking the Promised Land: African American Migrations to Kansas
- ^ "Discover the Kansas Town Settled by Black Homesteaders in the 1870s | National Trust for Historic Preservation". savingplaces.org. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
- ^ "African Americans in Kansas - Kansapedia - Kansas Historical Society". www.kshs.org. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
- ^ "Alfred Fairfax - Kansapedia - Kansas Historical Society". www.kshs.org. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
- ^ "Former Wichita Mayor, Gubernatorial Candidate Carl Brewer Dies". KMUW. 2020-06-12. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
- ^ Sumner High School - Clio - TheClio
- ^ Spanos, Brittany (2018-04-26). "Janelle Monáe Frees Herself". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2022-07-05.
Further reading
[edit]- Buckner, Reginald (1974). A History of Music Education in the Black Community of Kansas City, Kansas, 1905-1954.
- Kansas State Historical Society, Historic Sites Survey. Historic Preservation in Kansas. Black History Sites, A Beginning Point. Topeka: Kansas State Historical Society, 1977.
- African Americans of Wichita (Images of America).
External links
[edit]- "African Americans in Kansas". Kansapedia. Kansas Historical Society.
- African Americans in Kansas and the West - List of books and articles about the subject
- Seeking the Promised Land: African American Migrations to Kansas
- Learn the history of African American settlement in Kansas
- AFRICAN AMERICANS
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