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Founded by settlers in 1837, Hermann was dedicated as a place where German Americans could preserve their culture. Now its annual Hermann Wurstfest draws crowds with sausage sampling, competitions, and a Wiener Dog Derby.
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Bruce R. Watkins Drive took three decades to build, and resulted in the destruction of 2,000 homes and the displacement of thousands of Black residents. Kansas City officials and longtime residents hope a new federal grant can reconnect the neighborhoods torn apart by Highway 71, but mending old wounds won’t be easy.
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In his film The League, Sam Pollard tells the story of the Negro National League, which began in Kansas City: "They brought a different kind of style ... a kind of baseball which Major League Baseball is trying to bring back."
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Call it Kansas City's cruel summer. In July 1993, the Kansas River spilled over near 59th Street and Kaw Drive in Wyandotte County, Turkey Creek flooded Southwest Boulevard, and the Missouri River came close to overtopping the levees protecting the downtown airport. Hundreds of families were displaced.
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Each year, a group of young members of the Cherokee Tribes gets on bikes and retraces the Trail of Tears their ancestors traveled when relocated by the U.S. government almost 100 years ago. They hope to bring more understanding and acknowledgement of the tragic event.
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Jack Snelling hit the road with a mission: Visit every historic courthouse in Missouri.
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Kansas City’s first Pride parade in 1977 was spearheaded by Lea Hopkins, whose organizing sparked a wider gay rights movement that continues today. But it was only a few weeks after that successful event that Hopkins found herself on the defense again, when a prominent anti-gay activist came on a crusade through town.
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Gov. Laura Kelly shot down a proviso in the state budget bill allocating $250,000 for the Quindaro Ruins Archaeological Park in Kansas City, historically an important stop on the Underground Railroad. One of the site’s top supporters, Kansas City Democrat Rep. Marvin Robinson, broke party lines to help Republicans override Kelly's veto of a transgender athlete ban.
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An independent group at William Jewell revealed the college founders’ deep ties to slavery, including the fact that enslaved people helped build Jewell Hall and that the college's namesake Dr. William Jewell did not free all the people he enslaved, contrary to previous accounts.
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With a small-but-mighty restaurant culture, its own newspaper, and a vision for the future, the neighborhood of Martin City is a cultural hub in South Kansas City.
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A 1975 protest at a McDonald’s restaurant in Kansas City emerged from years of escalating tension — between Black community members and their city, and between McDonald’s and the neighborhoods it inhabited. But this particular location was also one of the first Black-owned fast-food franchises in the country, an accomplishment born from its own struggle for inclusion.
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Ed and Brad Budde both played offensive line for the Chiefs, and were both first round draft picks — a singular achievement in the NFL.
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Kansas City is known as the "City of Fountains," and it's earned the name — with more than any city other than Rome. From opulent displays to more simple spouts, these water features beautify our environment and connect us to the Kansas City of the past.
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Abraham Josephine Riesman’s best-selling book, “Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America,” recounts how the WWE went through an aggressive expansion in the 1980s, including in St. Louis.
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In a hearing that only included witnesses on one side of the debate, lawmakers attempted to determine if concepts from a controversial legal framework have made their way into public school curriculum.
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After nearly two years and $29 million in renovations, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum is back open for business.
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Accomplished Brig. Gen. Charles McGee made a home in Kansas City after retiring from the Air Force in 1973. He flew fighter jets in three wars, and later managed the downtown airport as a civilian.
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Researchers are conducting a study at the Kansas State Historical Site looking for unmarked graves and human remains that could suggest more about who is buried there and when they were interred.
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Starting May 27, visitors to the National WWI Museum and Memorial can explore the Western Front in "War Remains," an immersive reality experience.
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The professor found gaps in the way video games relate history to players, but says they're one way a younger generation is learning about the past.
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To celebrate the 50th anniversary of NPR's first original on-air broadcast, we look back at our origins in radio, how we grew from a staff of 65 to thousands, and into our future in the digital space.
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The state of Missouri is celebrating its 200th birthday. But few people today know about the Missouria, the Native American tribe behind the state’s name.
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Each state gets to honor two citizens with statues in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. In 2022, one of Missouri's contributions will be a statue of President Harry S. Truman.
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In the turbulent years following the Civil War, around 27,000 former slaves migrated to Kansas. They called themselves "exodusters" and they were fleeing Jim Crow laws. Some of them are remembered in a portrait exhibition of an African-American community in Leavenworth, Kansas.