African Americans arrived in Topeka right before and after the Civil War and again in large numbers during the Exodus Movement of 1879 and Great Migration of 1910. They came in protest of the treatment they received in the South. The history of dissent lived on in Topeka, as it became the home to court cases protesting discrimination of all kinds. African Americans came to the city determined that education would provide them a better life. Black educators fostered a sense of duty toward schooling, and in 1954 Topeka became a landmark for African Americans across the country with the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education case. Blacks from every walk of life found refuge in Kansas and, especially, Topeka. The images in African American Topeka have been selected to give the reader a glimpse into the heritage of black life in the community. The richness of the culture and values of this Midwestern city are a little-known secret just waiting to be exhibited.

Tracing the development of a black community in the trans-Mississippi West, Blacks in Topeka, Kansas, 1865--1915 is a thorough, insightful examination of an area of black history that has received, at best, scant attention. Thomas C. Cox probes in this study the political, social, and economic standing of blacks and the growth of black institutions in the Topeka area from early settlement during the territorial period through the rise of an urban Topeka in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Pivotal In the development of the black community was the Great Exodus of the 1870s -- the massive migration of southern blacks that brought the community new leaders, businessmen, and skilled laborers, and provided the impetus for establishment of institutions and elaborate social structures. Assessing the impact of the Exodus on social stratification and on the destruction of power, Cox closely examines the establishment of political and social clubs, the founding of churches, the rise of the black press -- including the influential Colored Citizen and Plaindealer -- and the emergence of such community leaders a John Wright, William Eagle son, and James Guy.The racial discrimination that permeated Topeka and intensified in the wake of the Great Exodus soon brought about organized protest by the black community to advance the causes of reform and social progress. As this movement grew in strength, it became a powerful bond that overcame divisions within black Topeka, and gave rise to a cohesive community grounded in strong local institutions through which blacks could challenge city, state, and national attitudes and events. In the case of Topeka, which in many ways was exceptional, discrimination helped to create a significant degree of self-determination.With relevance to American social history in general, Thomas Cox's Blacks in Topeka, Kansas, 1865--1915 fully utilizes the methods and materials of social history -- including census analysis and group biography -- to conclusively demonstrate the significance of Topeka in the history of race relations and the growth of black political and nonpolitical institutions.

The American West is mistakenly known as a region with few African Americans and virtually no black history. This work challenges that view in a chronicle that begins in 1528 and carries through to the present-day black success in politics and the surging interest in multiculturalism.

This two-volume encyclopedia presents a state-by-state history of African Americans in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. African American populations are established in every area of the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska (more than10 percent of the population of Fairbanks, Alaska, is African American). Black Americans have played an invaluable role in creating our great nation in myriad ways, including their physical contributions and labor during the slavery era; intellectually, spiritually, and politically; in service to our country in military duty; and in areas of popular culture such as music, art, sports, and entertainment. The chapters extend chronologically from the colonial period to the present. Each chapter presents a timeline of African American history in the state, a historical overview, notable African Americans and their pioneering accomplishments, and state-specific traditions or activities. This state-by-state treatment of information allows readers to take pride in what happened in their state and in the famous people who came from their state.

In Landmarks of African American History, James Oliver Horton chooses thirteen historic sites to explore the struggles and triumphs of African Americans and how they helped shape the rich and varied history of the United States. Horton begins with the first Africans brought to Jamestown, Virginia, and the start of slavery in the colonies that became the United States. Boston's Old State House provides the backdrop to the martyrdom of Crispus Attucks, the former slave killed in the Boston Massacre, the confrontation with British troops that led to the American Revolution. After the Civil War, former slaves settled the desolate area of Nicodemus, Kansas, and turned it into a thriving community. The USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Boston's Old State House illustrate African American contributions to the defense of their country and reveal racial tensions within the military. And the black students who demanded service at Woolworth's racially segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, launched the sit-in movement and advanced the fight for civil rights. Horton brings together a wide variety of African American historical sites to tell of the glory and hardship, of the great achievement and determination, of the people and events that have shaped the values, ideals, and dreams of our nation.

Until recently, histories of the American West gave little evidence of the presence--let alone importance--of African Americans in the unfolding of the western frontier. There might have been a mention of Estevan, slavery, or the Dred Scott decision, but the rich and varied experience of African Americans on the Great Plains went largely unnoted. This book, the first of its kind, supplies that critical missing chapter in American history.

Tangipahoa and St. Helena are two of the eight Florida Parishes in southeast Louisiana. In 1810, St. Helena Parish was founded, and Tangipahoa Parish followed in 1869. The historic St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, public school desegregation case predated the US Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Many families in the two parishes are the descendants of former slaves. They endured the harsh treatment of Jim Crow and segregation while remaining connected to the Florida Parishes. Notable Grammy-winning singer Irma Thomas and Collis Temple Jr., the first African American to play varsity basketball at Louisiana State University, call these parishes home. Many African Americans in the parishes are successful and are still working to improve race relations.