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Kansas City Today

When Independence destroyed a Black neighborhood

By Nomin Ujiyediin,
Byron J. Love, Paris Rex Norvell
Published January 31, 2023 at 4:00 AM CST
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The Neck neighborhood was in the center of historic Independence, Missouri, 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.

There's plenty to do at McCoy Park, located in Independence, Missouri, across from the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. But most visitors don’t know that beneath their feet lies the debris from hundreds of homes — all that’s left of a once-vibrant Black neighborhood destroyed by urban renewal. As KCUR’s Savannah Hawley-Bates reports, former residents of The Neck don’t want their stories to be forgotten.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Byron Love and KCUR Studios and edited by Gabe Rosenberg and Lisa Rodriguez.

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Tags
Kansas City Today HousingneighborhoodsIndependence MissouriHarry S. Truman Library & MuseumHarry TrumanMissouri historyBlack Historyurban renewal
Nomin Ujiyediin
As a newscaster and a host of a daily news podcast, I want to deliver the most important and interesting news of the day in an engaging and easily understandable way. No matter where you live in the metro or what you’re interested in, I want you to learn something from each newscast or podcast – and maybe even give you something to talk about at the dinner table.
See stories by Nomin Ujiyediin
Byron J. Love
As an on-demand producer, I am focused on using my skills and experiences across multiple digital applications, platforms and media fields to create community focused audio, video and on-demand products for KCUR Studios. The media that I produce aims to inform, entertain and connect with the Kansas City metro area as we continue to learn from each other. Email me at byronlove@kcur.org.
See stories by Byron J. Love
Paris Rex Norvell
Paris Norvell is a freelance podcast producer for KCUR Studios,
See stories by Paris Rex Norvell
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