-
Lead plaintiff Oliver Brown's name rings loudest from the 1954 Brown v. Board desegregation case, but 12 women fought alongside him in Topeka. Kansas Historical Society curator Donna Rae Pearson's "Women of Brown" exhibit helps tell their story.
-
The landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed racial segregation in public schools may have played out differently if it hadn’t been for a tenacious group of women in Johnson County, Kansas, who led their own integration lawsuit five years earlier. The case centered around a two-room schoolhouse and included a lengthy boycott, big-shot NAACP lawyers, FBI surveillance — and six very brave children.
-
Several universities, including Wichita State, claim that football's first forward pass was thrown at their school. Who's right?
-
"The Day After" made use of 2,000 local extras alongside well-known actors of the time. The film's emotional impact made it into the pages of a presidential journal, and is widely credited for putting the brakes on the nuclear arms race.
-
Kansas City has its fair share of historic homes, odd churches and menacing mansions, each with their own haunting past. With unsolved murders to unexplained mysteries, these sites are perfectly creepy and fascinating even beyond the Halloween season.
-
After dying suddenly under mysterious circumstances, Kansas City philanthropist Thomas Swope became the focus of one of the most publicized murder trials of the early 20th century. It’s long been suspected that Swope’s nephew-in-law murdered him and other members of his family as part of a plot to steal their fortune — but the events remain unresolved more than 110 years later.
-
Three St. Louis-area locations have been added to the National Park Service's National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom for their connections to enslaved people.
-
On Tuesday, three U.S. House representatives, two Democrats and one Republican, introduced a bill to make the site of the historic town of Quindaro in Kansas City, Kansas, a National Historic Landmark. The town was once a stop on the Underground Railroad and a thriving multicultural community.
-
Dred Scott, the enslaved man whose case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, is getting a new memorial monument. The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation is dedicating the monument in his honor on Saturday at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.
-
Alvin Brooks has served as a bridge in Kansas City for decades — as one of the city’s first Black police officers, an educator, a civil rights leader, a founder of Ad Hoc Group Against Crime, and almost a Kansas City mayor. Today he’s still on call 24/7 for whenever anyone needs help. As he asks everyone to mark their calendars for his 100th birthday in 2032, he looks back to his earliest days in Kansas City.
-
Located about 10 miles north of I-70, Lexington's population is roughly the same as it was in the 1860s. The town's biggest tourist attraction is the Battle of Lexington state historic site, but community members want to draw visitors to the rest of town.
-
At the turn of the 20th century, a self-taught caterer in Columbia gained national acclaim with her sought-after biscuit recipe. Fisher’s famous beaten biscuits made it onto the plates of presidents and Hollywood stars alike — making her one of the wealthiest Black women around. But her story may have been lost if not for a few determined Missouri women.
-
For more than 30 years, a Monett Times reporter has held an annual vigil in the southwest Missouri town marking the night that a mob of white residents killed three Black men — Will Godley, Pete Hampton and French Godley — and forced the rest of the town's Black residents to flee for their lives.
-
Quindaro in Wyandotte County was once a thriving, multiracial community, inextricably linked to the region’s history before, during and after the Civil War. This week, the ACLU of Kansas is releasing a carefully curated, more than 40-page analysis of the former township.
-
Thomas Eakins' oil painting “Sailing” starts a two-month run Thursday at Kansas City's premier art institution. The display comes as the city prepares to host the NFL Draft for the first time.
-
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.
-
Amelia Earhart spent part of her childhood in Atchison, Kansas. Now her hometown is celebrating the famous aviator's life and adventures with a new museum.
-
Pfc. Willy F. James Jr. was among seven African American troops unjustly denied the country’s highest military award for valor during World War II. Veterans and service members at James' memorial shared their thoughts on his legacy.
-
Since Kansas City was established, drag in various forms has evolved from entertainment for power and control into a liberating art. Attempts to regulate the practice have also persisted.
-
Wichita’s National Baseball Congress has showcased the best collegiate and semipro players in the country for nearly 100 years. But of all the players who have played here, perhaps none is as significant to the city’s baseball history as Leroy “Satchel” Paige.
-
Taylor remains one of the franchise's most captivating offensive players. After his career as a player ended, Taylor made Kansas City his permanent home.
-
Close to 1 million people gathered in the streets of the city and in front of Union Station to cheer on, and maybe even meet, the Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs. But what would the grand event have looked like if happened in 1923 instead of 2023?
-
Though the amended legislation no longer includes the phrase "critical race theory" or bars the teaching of it specifically, critics still worry it could hinder the teaching of history.
-
The Neck neighborhood was in the center of historic Independence and housed the biggest Black community in the city. When the Harry S. Truman Library was built to honor the president, urban renewal policies he put in place destroyed the neighborhood.