Black History Month
2006
From
the Law Library
Links to Local Sites with a
Black History flair . . .
TOPEKA, KANSAS
Click
àBROWN
V. BOARD OF EDUCATION
Monroe
Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, has been
designated a National Historic Site to "commemorate
the landmark Supreme Court decision aimed at ending
segregation in public schools."
Click
à
THE
CASE
"The
U. S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of
Education (1954) is one of the most pivotal
opinions ever rendered by that body. This landmark
decision highlights the Supreme Court’s role in
affecting changes in national and social policy. Often
when people think of the case, they remember a little
girl whose parents sued so that she could attend an
all-white school in her neighborhood. In reality, the
story of Brown v. Board is far more complex."
NICODEMUS, KANSAS 
Click
à
National Historic
Site
Escaping
Oppression...The
story of Nicodemus actually began in the aftermath of
the Civil War. For the South, the post-Civil War
era was marred by racial oppression. Long before
the last Federal troops left the South at the end of
Reconstruction in 1877, the few political and economic
gains Blacks had made during the previous decade were
being violently stripped away.
Click
à
AFRICAN-AMERICAN
MOSAIC: NICODEMUS, KANSAS
Library of Congress Site
Maps, graphics and photos provided by the Library of
Congress and the African-American Mosaic online
exhibit. See: Table
of contents for the African-American Mosaic
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
Click
à
NEGRO LEAGUES
BASEBALL MUSEUM
Negro
Leagues Baseball Museum
1616 East 18th Street
Kansas City, MO 64108
"The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum opened
in Kansas City, Missouri in January 1991,
located in the Historic Lincoln Building (18th and
Vine Historic District). It is now housed in the
Museums at 18th and Vine Complex. The museum has been
the subject of several television, radio, and print
media feature stories."
Click
à
AMERICAN JAZZ
MUSEUM 
"Kansas City, Missouri, the mother of swing and
the nurturer of Bebop, proudly hosts the reflection of
its dynamic musical heritage - the American Jazz
Museum. Inside the American Jazz Museum, the essence
and living spirit of jazz legends fill the atmosphere,
as the story of jazz and her greatest performers is
told through the sights and sounds of one the most
interactive museums in the country."
American Jazz Museum
1616 East 18th Street
Kansas City, Missouri 64108
The
Missouri/Kansas Connection
George Washington Carver (1864-1943) 
Born to slaves on a farm near Diamond Grove in
southwest Missouri, this
renowned scientist developed more than 300 uses for
the peanut -- including milk and printer's ink. He was
a Fellow of the Royal Academy of England and director
of the Tuskegee Institute.
Scott Joplin (1868-1917) 
This musician left home to become a pianist at age
14. His hit "The Maple Leaf Rag," written in
1899 while he was living in Sedalia,
Mo., launched a nationwide craze for ragtime
music.
Linda Brown (1943-) 
Segregation laws banned her from attending Sumner
Elementary School in Topeka.
She won a Supreme Court decision in 1954 that struck
down the "separate but equal" doctrine.
Dred Scott (1795-1858) 
He was the central figure in a landmark slavery
case. This person filed a lawsuit to obtain his
freedom on the grounds that he had resided in free
territory before his owner brought him back to Missouri.
Although he lost his suit in the famous Supreme Court
decision (1857), he was emancipated two months later.
He later worked as a hotel porter in St. Louis.
Lucille Bluford (1911-2003) 
Now the managing editor of the Kansas
City Call, she was denied admission to the
University of Missouri's journalism school because she
was black. A journalism program was created at Lincoln
University in 1941 instead.
Count Basie (1904-84) 
This jazz musician came to Kansas
City in the 1920s as a penniless piano and
organ player. He developed a distinctive piano sound
characterized by understatement and a strong right
hand. He and his band created wildly popular tunes
such as "One O'Clock Jump." Of his bluesy
jazz, he said: "I don't dig the two-beat jive the
New Orleans cats play, because my boys and I got to
have four heavy beats to a bar and no cheating."
Hattie McDaniel (1895-1952) 
This Wichita native
won Best Supporting Actress in 1940 for her role as
Mammy in"Gone With the Wind." She was the
first African-American to win an Academy Award and
attend the awards ceremony.
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) 
This Joplin, Mo.,
native wrote and edited more than 50 books of poetry,
fiction, nonfiction and plays. He's best known as a
poet of the Harlem Renaissance. His works include Not
Without Laughter, his first novel, and Montage
of a Dream Deferred, a poetry collection.
Eva Jessye (1895-1992) 
This Coffeyville, Kan.,
native trained the chorus for George Gershwin's
"Porgy and Bess" and formed a choir that
toured internationally and sang at a civil rights
march led by Martin Luther King Jr.
Note:
UMKC Law Library adapted the Quiz page in the February
6, 2001, KC Star FYI. Seen in its original
format at: http://www.kcstar.com/standing/history/bhquiz.htm.
We thank the Star for permission to adapt the nine
images and bios and place on our website.
