THE KANSAS INSTITUTE FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN

AND NATIVE-AMERICAN FAMILY HISTORY

This website concerns: African American history -- especially historic and current connections with Native Americans-- and social history of the American Mid-West, family history, and commemorating Kansas history.

(NOTICE: For viewers using a computer, all the links should open, perhaps in “a new frame,” But, for any that does not open, try using a control+click procedure. Then, look at the top of your screen for that new frame and click on it.

To join the KIAANAFH download and fill out this form and send any voluntary dues and/or contribution
($25/yr is has been our dues in the past) to our Treasurer.
Make checks payable to “KIAANAFH” -contributions & membership payments are tax deductable!
==========================================================

LATEST FEATURED ITEMS

NEWS FLASH:

Wichita library likely to be named after civil rights leader

Dr. Ronald Walters

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JANUARY 04, 2021 WICHITA, KAN.

Wichita officials are expected to name the city's newest library after a Black man who led a sit-in at a drugstore in 1958 that helped end racial segregation in the city.

The Library Board has recommended the new library be named for Ronald Walters, who left Wichita to become a noted civil rights champion and author. The council was expected to accept the recommendation at its meeting Tuesday, The Wichita Eagle reported.

Walters was president of the Wichita NAACP Youth Council when he organized a sit-in at the Dockum Drugs store, which served Blacks only with carryout food.

Walters and others sat at the diner and tried to order for three weeks before the manager relented and began serving Black customers. In 2006, the national NAACP said it was the first youth-led sit-in in the country to achieve the desired results.

Walters had a distinguished career in academia and wrote several books on racial and political subjects. He remained active in politics, serving as an adviser in the Bill Clinton administration on policies opposing South African apartheid and managing both presidential campaigns of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

He died in 2010 at the age of 72.
[web-link: Wichita library likely to be named after civil rights leader | The Kansas City Star

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ANOTHER OUTSTANDING TOPEKAN:

Former Topekan Kevin Young To Lead

Smithsonian's Museum Of African American History, Culture

”click on this next link for the story >

https://patch.com/kansas/across-ks/former-topekan-kevin-young-lead-smithsonian-s-museum-african-american-history

Other important developments of recent times --

“Indigenous People’s Day”: progress is being made to replace the name of “Columbus Day,” in recognition of the disaster the contact they had with him and his explorers. One such move has been recently announced by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Below is their announcement:

With the endorsement of Academic Council, beginning this year MIT will change the name of this holiday from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, in recognition and celebration of the Native presence and voices in our community. You can learn more about the holiday’s significance through an October 14 lecture by MLK Visiting Scholar Patricia Saulis.

Video selection from symposium “Finding Common Ground” a 2018 symposium presented by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI).

Moderated by Michel Martin, weekend host of NPR’s All Things Considered, the symposium focused on the complex history of African Americans and Native Americans and how our intertwined stories are an essential part of our national identity.

{this featured selection is of the presentation by Prof. Tiya Miles on the history of the long and complex connections between Native and African Americans. The whole symposium would likely also be of interest to you}
YouTube Selection Prof. Tiya Miles presentation

African Native American Genealogy Forum for all topics on Black/Indian connections, especially the recent controversies regarding restoration of historic citizenship rights for "Freedman"
Freedmen Descendants of the 5 Tribes website

Latest featured NEWS

US Supreme Court favors Muscogee Creek land claims (click on NYTimes link for story)
Among its last rulings, the court handed Native Americans their biggest legal victory in decades when it ruled that much of eastern Oklahoma had long been a reservation of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Click Here for comments: For Muscogee citizens, the win was deeply personal.

FEATURED FAMILIES

CHARLES MCAFEE

McAfee_Charles_HM_photo

“Considered the most important African American architect in the United States, Charles McAfee of Wichita, Kansas, has used architecture to create opportunities for African Americans and make social commentary about racial inequality.” (The History Makers)

To visit several websites featuring Charles McAfee, open this file, CLICK HERE
and if links don’t open with control-click, copy webaddresses into your browser address
=====================

Edith Walker’s Kansas pioneer family
click Here for Matin's introduction of Edith Walker,
and click here for Edith Walker's presentation.

===============================

Some HARDIN and JOHNSON FAMILIES of Leavenworth, KS background

For photos and some of the history of these families click here

==================================================

OTHER FEATURED ITEMS AND LINKS:

Discussion: Key early Community-building African American organizations
and people of
North-East Kansas City, KS:
by Rev. Robert L. Baynham, Pastor of Metropolitan Church
for video, click here

The "Bleeding Kansas Heritage Area Project" is now transformed into the
Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area (click here for its website)

OTHER FAMILIES

Obituary about a prominent member of a Wichita family
June Bacon-Bercey, pathbreaking TV meteorologist, dies at 90.

She was a pathbreaking meteorologist with Wichita roots |

[From The Wichita Eagle, January 9 2020 , Local Obituaries, original copy from obituary By Daniel E. Slotnik,
New York Times January 08, 2020] Undated photo provided via Dail St.Claire

June Bacon-Bercey was the first African American woman to deliver weather forecasts on American television as a trained meteorologist. Before her marriage, she had studied math at Friends University in Wichita before earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in meteorology from the University of California, Los Angeles, in the mid-1950s. After graduating, she worked at the National Meteorological Center in Washington and then for the Atomic Energy Commission and the Sperry Rand Corp. In 1979 she earned a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California’s journalism school. She was one of the African American pioneers on television, irrespective of gender.

In 1972, the American Meteorological Society awarded Bacon-Bercey its “Seal of Approval,” given for excellence in on-air meteorology. She was the first African American and the first woman to receive that honor. A year later, she left WGR to become a public speaker. She later worked for the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

She has also personally endowed a scholarship through the American Geophysical Union for women to study atmospheric sciences.

For the full obituary story click here

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

FEATURED FOR SUGGESTED READING:

Gretchen Eick’s latest book: They Met at Wounded Knee: The Eastmans’ Story (U of Nevada Press, 2020) which is a double biography and history of indigenous physician Charles Ohiyesa Eastman and his Anglo wife Elaine Goodale Eastman. Both fought US Indian policies as whistleblowers, writers (11 books each), and activists. There is no other book that traces the history they lived and helped shape using their writing and examining the settler colonialism at the heart of Indian policy.

WE ALSO SUGGEST YOU READ:

Quotes from Jack D Forbes book: AFRICANS AND NATIVE AMERICANS: The Language of Race and the Evolution of Red-Black Peoples, University of Illinois Press 1993 (p270-3) “By the nineteenth century it seems quite certain that Afroamericans, (sic) whether living in Latin America, the Caribbean or in North America, had absorbed considerable amounts of Native American ancestry. Similarly, many North American and circum-Carobbean (sic) native groups had absorbed varying amounts of African ancestry, from New England to the entire rim of Central and South America... [they] might have varying amounts of African and American ancestry derived at different intervals and from extremely diverse sources – as from American nations as different as the Narragansett or Pequot and the Carib or Arawak, or from African nations as diverse as the Mandinka, Yoruba, and Malagasy.”

----------------------------------------------------

OTHER FEATURED NEWS
Honoring Native American Heritage Month in Oklahoma

Tuesday, November 19, 2019 Re: Cherokee Nation items on this commemoration, click on next link for website of Cherokee.org November is a significant time for the Cherokee Nation and other tribal nations across the United States. This is the time that we commemorate (click > for online story) Native American Heritage Month.

FEATURED PREVIOUS PROGRAM:

VIDEO of the Humboldt, Kansas ceremony from June, 2000, commemorating "THE GREAT ESCAPE" of Indians and Blacks over "The Trail of Blood on Ice" from "Indian Territory" (now Oklahoma) to Kansas. This 1861/2 flight was led by the Muskogee leader Opothleyahola and reflected a "comrades in arms" collaboration between many thousands of Native Americans and hundreds of African Americans to escape slavery and/or the Confederacy.

Click here for the introduction to our DVD on the complete ceremony. Please note that all the video footage on this ceremony is under copyright protection by the KIAANAFH and may not legally be reproduced without our permission. Click HERE for video footage of the opening of the ceremony and the speech by the Muskogee Creek Indian Nation's Principal Chief, Mr. R. Perry Beaver, and the first half of the presensation by KIAANAFH President Prof. Willard R Johnson. CLICK HERE for the completion of Johnson's presentation, and other speakers about the experience of the refugees.
CLICK HERE for PART THREE to continue the presentations by descendants of the refugees and of some of the principal figures in the story of the Great Escape.

CLICK HERE for PART FOUR to complete the presentations by descendants, including direct descendants of Opothleyahola and other leaders of that time. (See near the very bottom of this web page for more material on this event.)

More information on the GREAT ESCAPE program is near the bottom of this website.

=========================================================

OTHER FEATURED FAMILIES

The Fort Scott KS family members for Mr. Lyle Gibson

For blog re his film on Lyle Gibson’s family history project: click here
for the family history narrative
and for related photos control click here and control click here

FEATURED ARTICLES Sharice Davids, a citizen of the Ho-Chunk Nation, won the Democratic primary for a Congressional seat in Kansas.

(control+click here) Another Native woman advances in historic year for Native candidates

For profile and record of Congresswoman Davids click here

FEATURED VIDEOS
(SOME ARE REPEATS FROM ABOVE)

Edith Walker’s Kansas pioneer family
click here

for Matin's introduction of Edith Walker, and click here for Edith Walker's presentation.

Regarding the Sims family, the McAfee family, and others of Wichita:
by Mr. Charles McAfee, of McAfee3Architects Co. for video click here

Regarding The African American communities of North-East Kansas City, KS:
by Rev. Robert L. Baynham for video, click here

“Pompey” Fixico (descendant of Caesar Bruner of the Seimonle/Creek/Mascogos) regarding their relevance to Blacks in Mexico, as well as “Cinco de Mayo” celebrations: click the following link FEATURED online – BLOG ENTRYs

https://refixico.wordpress.com/2018/08/09/john-horse-dr-runoko-rashidi-carl-nelsons-woldc-radio-program-los-mascogos-and-fort-negros-fixico/

Or, IF THAT DOES NOT WORK, copy the following text into your web browser location window https://refixico.wordpress.com/2018/08/09/john-horse-dr-runoko-rashidi-carl-nelsons-woldc-radio-program-los-mascogos-and-fort-negros-fixico/

For a subsequent entry on similar issue, try typing this address into your browser > https://refixico.wordpress.com_2018_alliances-gullah-geechee-seminole-maroons-mascogo-maroons-john-horse-carl-nelsons-woldc-news-and-fort-negros-fixico/
------------------------------

Selected video footage from two special panels presented at the 2017 60^th Annual National Conference of the U.S. African Studies Association, featuring the career of Dr. Willard R. Johnson This footage starts with fourth segment of the full set of videos, and is located at https://youtu.be/J8NF_a_n2Wk this segment should be advanced to start at about the 25:25 marker point, to start with the first part of Dr. Vivian R. Johnson discussion of Willard’s and her work on genealogy regarding Kansas ancestors and related social history. View on to the finish of that segmen Note: the first photo, of “Bettie,” is NOT of “The Madagascar Woman” but rather her daughter. We have no name or photo of the Madagascan.. In the next segment, the statue for the First Kansas Colored Regiment is located in Missouri] Then continue on the next segment, at https://youtu.be/MJFs-VSaYrU This segment ends with remarks by Willard. His discussion continues of the final segment: at https://youtu.be/sFvk_DeRIK4 and includes audience remarks and questions including remarks by former American and African students and associates of Willard, and remarks and questions by Dr. Adekeye Adebajo of the University of Johannesburg who heads their Institute of Pan-African Thought and Conversation.

Next is footage regarding from Willard R. Johnson’s presentation to Univ. of Johannesburg Conference organized by Dr. Adebajo, called “The Pan-African Pantheon,” regarding the contributions to Pan-Africanism of Mr. Harry Belafonte For an extensive excerpt from this presentation-- click here

======================================================

Interview with noted, now retired and Florida based physician
Dr. Joseph K. Hurd, MD,

regarding his many generations of Kansas family history!

For an online"You-tube" based record of this interview
click here, and then use the "play all" box at top left!

-----Dr. Joseph K. Hurd ---------------and one of his----- Willingham ancestors-----

=====================================================
2015 PROGRAMS:

FORUMS: HISTORY AND CURRENT CHALLENGES OF SOME
KANSAS BLACK COMMUNITIES, and
HISTORY OF SOME OF THEIR NOTABLE FAMILIES
==========================================

WICHITA AREA FORUM
November 14, 2015 ---- Unity Church of Wichita, KS
co-sponsored by UNITY Of Wichita, and the KIAANAFH

Presentations:

Some key African American Humboldt KS families:
by Dr. Willard R. Johnson, retired MIT Professor -
Introduction by Ms Wilma Moore-Black, Wichita State Upward Bound Program Director
(facilitated by the MIT Department of Political Science)
for a video of the introduction and W. Johnson's presentation click here
(ignore any YouTube ads, they are not by us)
for the second part of Johnson, click here
for final part of Johnson's presentation, click here

The George and Catherine Walker family, by Edith Walker
for video of Ms E. Walker's presentation click here

The Brown Family: by Ms. Shelia Brown-Kinnard, Educator for this video, click here

The Sexton Family: by Dr. Eric Sexton, V.P. Wichita State Univ. for presentation click here
for video of audience discussion of this family this link for the video

The Sims Family, the McAfee family, and others of Wichita:
by Mr. Charles McAfee, of McAfee3Architects Co. for video click here

final discussion video 1 and video 2

=====================================================================

KANSAS CITY AREA FORUM
October 31, 2015 -- Metropolitan Baptist Church, KC, Kansas
(This forum was co-sponsored by the Kansas Humanities Council)

Presentations:
Master of Ceremonies, Ms. Geri Sanders videoclip

Ms Angela Bates presented on the historic Black town of Nicodemus:
we have no video of the presentation itself, but here is a video on the Q&A discussion

Quindaro: history and commemorative quilts, by Ms. Nedra Bonds
5 videos on this presentation and discussion 1st part of Bonds speech , 2nd part of Bonds speech ,
Q n A 1st part , Q n A 2nd part , Q n A final part

Key Community Building orgs and people of NorthEast Kansas Ciity, KS:
by Rev. Robert L. Baynham for video, click here (repeat entry from that featured near beginning of webpage)

Gordon Parks: by Charles McAfee, Architect for video on the main presentation, click here
for video of discussion, click here

Watch this space for future posting of more videos from this forum

=====================================================================
ALSO LOOK AT THE MATERIALS FEATURED BELOW:

video -- Concepts of citizenship relevant to Blacks with Indians
(This 2 hour panel from February 2011 at M.I.T. incluudes a 20+ minute talk by Willard R. Johnson ---for his talk, after starting the video, move the location mark to start at 1hr 17 minutes.)
================================================

Top of Form

-- OUR 2012 PUBLIC FORUM --

Bottom of Form

“Out of the shadows:
Notable African American families
and sites of Mid-America”
Saturday, August 25, 2012 -- 10am to 2pm
at The Black Archives of Mid-America
1722 E. 17th Terrace, Kansas City, MO 64108

Sponsored by The KIAANAFH (with partial support by FFNHA, the Black Archives of Mid-America,
and the M.I.T. Political Science Dept.)

Top of Form

WE DISCUSSED HOW/WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM OUR OWN FAMILY HISTORIES, and
HOW TO BRING OUT THEIR BROADER SIGNIFICANCE!
The stories we discussed concerned the families in the Kansas and Missouri area that settled here before 1950.
We hope to help our children and grandchildren take pride in their family’s heritage.
We aim to bring prominence to our stories by making them known to the thousands of tourists who, in coming years,
will visit the U.S. National Park Service’s project called Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area (FFNHA).

We also discussed important but still all too little known places and people in KS/MO history, such as:
o Dr. George Washington Carver: scientist, educator, inventor, artist, born in MO, product of KS education.
o Sarah Rector: the richest Black woman in the US, perhaps the world of her time, who was a resident of KC.
o Bishop John Andrew Greg: who was a noted educator, U.S. diplomat, AME church leader, resident of KC, KS.
o Melvin B. Tolson: educator, labor organizer, civic leader, coach of the famous “Great Debaters,” resident of KC, MO.
o Polly Crossilin: Black Seminole/Creek Indian founder of the Colored Church (Poplar Grove) of Humboldt, KS.
o The role Sumner High School of Kansas City in producing many African American leaders.
o Contributions of the region's African American women's clubs and organizations.
o The contributions of the early local African American churches.
o Stories and sites introduced by the participants.

Speakers included:
Ms. Julie McPike, Project Coordinator, FFNHA
Mr. Chester Owens, former member of KC, KS City Council
Mr. Robert Farnsworth, historian and biographer of Melvin B. Tolson
Dr. Doretha Williams, Executive Director of the Black Archives of Mid-America
Ms. Geraldlyn Sanders, Assistant to the President of the KC Art Institute, activist in M.A.G.I.C., KIAANAFH Board
Dr. Khadijah Matin, former National President Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, KIAANAFH Board
Rev. Robert L. Baynham, Pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Temple in KC, KS, KIAANAFH Vice President
Dr. Willard R. Johnson, retired Professor of Political Science at MIT and KIAANAFH President
Ms. Edith Walker, math teacher at the Commonwealth School in Boston, KIAANAFH Treasurer
Ms. Deborah Tucker, retired librarian, Wayne State University, KIAANAFH Board
---------------------------------------------------------

For "YouTube" based VIDEOS of this forum click on the following links.

Click here for the first 4 presentations --the Forum Introduction by Dr. Khadijah Matin, the explanation of the FFNHA project by Ms. Julie McPike, the introduction to Sarah Rector story by Ms. Geraldlyn Sanders, and discussions by Mr. Chester Owens of AME Bishop Gregg, and the first part of the Sumner High School story.

Click here for the continuation of Mr. Owens' presentation regarding Sumner High School, followed by Robert Farnsworth on the many contributions of "The Great Debater's" coach, Melvin Tolson.

Click here for the video clip of Khadijah Matin's presentation on her Nebraska pioneer family's Kansas experience, followed by Deborah Tucker's discussion of the life and achievements of Dr. George Washington Carver, and then the first part of the presentation by Ms Doretha Williams about early women's clubs in Kansas; AND

Click here for the end of the Williams presentation on women's clubs, and the first half of the presentation by Rev. R.L. Baynham regarding the early development of Black churches in Kansas, and click here for the rest of that presentation by Rev. Baynham;
click here for Matin's introduction of Edith Walker, and click here for Edith Walker's presentation about her pioneer family in Kansas.

For a video of the presentation and related photos regarding "Aunt Polly" Crosslin, by W.R. Johnson click here
To continue with a few more sites and photos relating to this presentation click here.

=================================================

Bottom of Form

OTHER FEATURED LINKS
African Native American Genealogy Forum for all topics on Black/Indian connections, especially the recent controversies regarding restoration of historic citizenship rights for "Freedman"
Freedmen Descendants of the 5 Tribes website

"Muskogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band" organization
-- for their 2015 Conference speakers click here

"Creek Freedman" Organization

Concepts of citizenship relevant to Blacks and Indians
(this 2 hour panel incluudes a 15 minute talk by Willard R. Johnson regarding Blacks and Indians (start the video, and to hear only Johnson's presenttion, move the location marker to 1hr 17 min mark into the video)

For current news from an Indian nations perspective, click here

National Congress of Black American Indians launched in July 2014---
for the Indianz News article on this event, click here

As mentioned above regarding the present form of The "Bleeding Kansas Heritage Area Project" for Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area (click here for its website) – and --

(for information on ALL the Heritage Areas, click here )

Black Archives of Mid-America

BLACK PAST: African American History through people and places;
see especially the vignette of Seminole Chiefs Billy Bowleg (Halpata & Sonaki Micco)

National Resources for doing genealogy on African Americans and Native Americans

AfroAmerican Historical and Genealogy Society

Afrigeneas - genealogy and history site

The Kansas African American Museum -- Wichita

Mid West Indian Center Wichita

Heart of America Indian Center KC MO

National American Indian Museum

Regarding the historic underground railroad site at the Quindaro Ruins:
listen to an interesting radio interview on the KC Currents show at KCUR (brought to our attention by Marvin S. Robinson II) http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kcur/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1837930

For an earlier Los Angeles Times archive article on the Quindaro Ruins site: Click here

FOR SOME OTHER HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING ABOUT KANSAS SOCIAL HISTORY
other <>

ALSO SUGGESTED READING:

CITIZENS CREEK

This is by the Author of the best-selling books: Cane River, and Red River

We very seldom impose on our contacts to call attention to commercial products, however relevant they may be to the common interests of the visitors to this website. However, having read this book (and, indeed all her previous ones) and having discussed it with her throughout much of its development, and finding it truly an extraordinarily informative, moving, historically well-grounded in the available facts, and brilliantly rendered work of historical fiction – we feel confident in recommending it to our members and friends. This is a very important story about Cow Tom and his family, his close associates (such as Harry Island) and owner (Chief Yargee) . Tom and Island were among the most famous and consequential of the Black interpreters for the Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee Native American nations, during the period of the “Indian removals” and American Civil War. Such a story has ramifications for relations between many African Americans and Native Americans today. It was published by Atria Books division of Simon and Shuster, Inc. We recommend this book to a wide range of readers - those who enjoy engrossing fiction, or a good multigenerational family story, or important but still rather overlooked aspects of American history.
You can ORDER Citizens Creek through Amazon at this webiste or through the author's website www.lalitatademy.com, just click through any of the links there
(Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or an independent bookseller) For more information, also see the website www.simonandshuster.com or www.facebook.com/atriabooks.

Also consider the book that records a very relevant 2009 exhibit at
The National Museum of Native Americans, Washington D.C.

“INDIVISIBLE”
you can order this book from the Smithsonian Stores:
phone 1-800-331-3761, or online at www.AmericanIndian.si.edu/bookshop
or search by this ISBN: 978-1-58834-271-3

FIND FURTHER RESOURCE LINKS BELOW

Other KIAANAFH PAST ACHIEVEMENTS include:

* Transcription of a “breakout session” panel at the 57^th Annual Session of the National Council of American Indians that focussed on "The Legacy and Future of Black/Indian Relations." The session was organized by former Cherokee Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller, with the assistance of Dr. Willard R. Johnson and the KIAANAFH. The transcription was rendered by Dr. Johnson and is published for posting here and in print by the KIAANAFH. Click on this link for the transcription of this NCAI session on BLACK/ INDIAN RELATIONS - TRANSCRIPT. You may download and print this transcription for personal, classroom, civic organizational or other strictly non-commercial uses only.

For an extensive bibliography and resource list developed by participants in this panel under the leadership of Chief Mankiller and Dr. Patrick Minges, click the next link click here for Bibglioraphy on historic connections between African Americans and Native Americans

For more regarding THE GREAT ESCAPE CEREMONY click > "Tracing Trails of Blood on Ice: The Great Escape" of Indians and Blacks into Kansas." Also Click the next link for text and photo material relating to this ceremony!

(click here for estimated route of the escape)

You may order a copy of our DVD of the complete ceremony, -- $20 for members, plus $4 shipping. $30 plus shipping for non-members.

The Negro History Bulletin of Jan.-Dec. 2001 (Vol. 64) carried an article by Willard R. Johnson regarding this story . Click here for a text only copy of this individual article for non-commercial use. The whole issue containing this article and teaching guides may be purchased through the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, publications archive website: ASAALH publication archive store

*KIAANAFH also contributed to the planning for the original "Bleeding Kansas Heritage Area" project, including the LeRoy Kansas Opothleyahola Memorial site that is part of that tour area, as part of a 4-county Heritage Tour area that was inspired by and based on the story commemorated in KIAANAFH's June 2000 "Great Escape" ceremony, called "Tracing Trails of Blood on Ice." Video footage of this entire ceremony is featured at the beginning of this webpage, above.

--- for a photograph and more information on the LeRoy site, click here---

The whole trail will be part of the Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area mentioned above.

OTHER PAST KIAANAFH ACCOMPLISHMENTS include:

* Seminars/exhibitions on pioneer African American families in the Southeast Kansas area with principal funding support from the Kansas Humanities Council.

* Round-Table discussions within the Kansas based African American communities to document the connections the various episodes of forced removal of Native American nations from the South Eastern United States during the 1830s “Trail of Tears."

* A workshop among families that participated in the round-table programs together with experts and officials from the National Archives and Records Administration (from Washington DC and Ft. Worth TX offices) devoted to documentation for connections between the African- and Native- American peoples.

* CHEROKEE NATION CENSUS (1869/1870): transcription of a Cherokee pension census commissioned in 1869, and supervised by Capt. J. W. Craig. It records ALL known residents in the territory of The Cherokee Nation (Indian Territory/Oklahoma) including colored persons, whether citizens or not, and intruders. This census was submitted to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Dec. 1871 by F. E. Foster, Sp. Agent in the Pension Office. It had been lost in the National Archives since 1871.

============================================

The KIAANAFH is an independent, non-profit, membership organization founded in 1991 to promote the preservation, documentation, and appreciation of family identity, traditions, and achievements of the members of the African American and Native American communities of the Mid-West United States. The KIAANAFH aims to assist families which have a greater Kansas area regional base of ancestral roots and perhaps widely scattered branches, to know, preserve, strengthen and celebrate their own achievements.

The KIAANAFH was founded by persons whose parents or grandparents were/are still resident in Kansas, or whose current work is associated with the study and preservation of historical material relating to Kansas. Many of them represent mixtures of African American and Native American descent, or have "Freedman," and/or “comrade in arms” connections with Native American peoples. Many of them are academicians, in a variety of fields, who can help identify and mobilize resources to assist families to document themselves more fully and to preserve their important memorabilia. In particular, they aim to improve the resource base for revealing and commemorating the often neglected and difficult to document aspects of African American and Native American genealogical and historical relationships.

(Logo items: K=haystack, I=eye floating eye of inquiry, As=African pyramids, NA= “teepees” F= head of family headdress, H=ancestral fan.In the list of KIAANAFH leadership the Kansas area ancestral city of relevance is in parentheses.)