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Expected to open in the historic Boone Theater in February 2026, the attraction will celebrate Black Americans' contributions to the film industry. The first class of inductees — including Oscar Micheaux, Harry Belafonte and Janelle Monáe — all have Kansas City ties.
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In the late 1800s, a new dance took the country by storm, and Kansas City was home to one of its biggest stars. Meet Doc Brown, “Prince of the Mincing Step," “King of the Order of Mixed Gaits," and “Cakewalk Champion of Missouri and the World.”
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The American dance craze known as 'the cakewalk' began as a form of resistance by enslaved Black people — a showy promenade that concealed a mockery of slave owners. Now, modern devotees are marking the life of its most charismatic and famous champion, Kansas City’s own Doc Brown.
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Harris-Kearney Museum to reopen after renovations to tell the 'full story' of Kansas City's foundingAfter 18 months of renovations, the historic Westport home will serve again as a center for stories from the old western frontier. 'We need to tell the story of enslavement and the Native American tribes that were affected by the settlement,' one historian says.
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The Neck was the largest Black neighborhood in Independence, but was demolished in the 1960s as part of the city’s urban renewal efforts. The city dedicated granite markers honoring the former neighborhood as part of its efforts to right the past.
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The Black Ancestors Awareness Campaign of Weston, a small nonprofit dedicated to documenting the untold stories of Weston's Black forebears, held its first Juneteenth Heritage Jubilee in 2021. Since then, the small river town just north of Kansas City has become a destination for regional Black history.
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The festival's second year kicked off this week at the Screenland Armour theater in North Kansas City. This year’s mission is to celebrate Black filmmakers from Missouri whose work explores contemporary and historical social issues.
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The Black Ancestors Awareness Campaign of Weston, a small but mighty nonprofit dedicated to documenting the untold stories of Weston's Black forebears, held its first Juneteenth Heritage Jubilee in 2021. Since then, the small river town just north of Kansas City has become a destination for regional Black history.
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In "My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music's Black Past, Present, and Future," author Alice Randall pairs her deep knowledge of the genre with her personal experience in the industry to document the often-untold stories of country's Black founders.
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Once strong and thriving, Clayton’s Black community was wiped out by urban renewal policies that drove out several hundred residents during the 1950s and '60s. Now the city's downtown business district stands in its place.
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The new autobiography "Show Me Justice: The Happy Life Journey of Alvin Lee Sykes" documents the extraordinary story of the self-taught legal scholar from Kansas City. Sykes fought tirelessly to re-open several unsolved civil rights cold cases, including the murder of Emmett Till.
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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.