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. These links should also
open on an I-Phone.
To join the KIAANAFH download and fill out this form
and send any now 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!
==========================================================
FEATURED ITEMS
The National Museum of African American
History and Culture (NMAAHC) is proud to present the
next page from Our American Story, an online series for Museum
supporters. We offer these stories to honor and
celebrate the African American experience, share an immensely rich history
and culture, and inspire and sustain our community as we move toward the
future together. The Second Great Awakening, an early
19th-century religious revival in the United States, marked an era of
transformation for America and a new path forward for Jarena Lee. Born into a
free Black family in Cape May, New Jersey, in 1783, Lee navigated the intense
religiosity and social reformation of her time to emerge as the nation’s
first African American woman preacher and the first woman to be recognized as
an evangelist in the male-dominated African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. |
WEBLINK TO THE MUSEUM (copy the following into
your browser)
https://nmaahc.si.edu
OTHER FEATURED STORIES
and LINKS
========================
In memory of our
beloved Vice-President, the late Rev. Robert L. Baynham:
Rev. Robert Louis Baynham
May 29, 1936 ~ January 23,
2022 (age 85)
Obituary Reflections of Life
Dr Robert L. Baynham, a native of
Kansas City, MO, passed away January 23, 2022. He was God’s servant that was
very passionate about winning the lost and educating people about God’s word.
He was born on May 29, 1936, at General Hospital to Samantha M. Barnes and
shared this special day with his twin sister Roberta L. Baynham.
Dr Baynham attended school in the
Kansas City, Missouri school district and graduated from R.T. Coles Vocational
School. He furthered his education, attending Western Baptist Bible College
Kansas City, Mo, Allen County Community College Iola, KS where he received his
AA Degree, Ottawa University Ottawa, KS where he received his Bachelor’s
Degree, Central Baptist Seminary Kansas City, Mo where he received his Masters
of Divinity, University of Central America Kansas City, MO where he received
his Doctor of Religious Education and he received an Honorary Doctorate of
Divinity Degree from the Western Baptist Bible College Kansas City, MO.
Dr Baynham married Joanna L Jackson on
July 22, 1956, and to their union five daughters and one son were
born: Pamela, Denise, Robert Jr, Rebecca, Nina, and Rachel.
OTHER
FEATURED KIAANAFH
supporters, members & past Board members.
Dr. Amber Reagan-Kendrick
Online Instructor for
English/Subject Matter Expert --Lawrence, Kansas
Dr. Amber Reagan-Kendrick says: “If most of
your stuff is in the wash, wear pajamas, but
accessorize.”
She has an interesting mix of AA and NA ancestors, and
reports the following about this: “My DNA ancestry exhibits only 3 percent of
Native ancestry, which is disappointing. My cousins have more than I. My family’s history
is not as rich as … other folks I have researched. According to my DNA
ancestry, I am also 41 percent African and 56 percent White. My father was a
White man who acknowledged and loved me (I was the “favorite”)…
I have two half brothers (one Black and still
living), another full Black brother deceased, and three half-sisters. That makes
seven of us by my Dad. My mother’s people were poor and uneducated. My
grandmother got as far as fifth grade and my mother had to drop out of high
school. She retired from domestic service. I grew up in South Central LA and
Orange County. I finally realized that there are class differences among us
Black folk, and I am in the lower class. My
mother-in-law pointed out this to me since I had to learn social skills as I
grew as a person. The amazing thing about me is that my mother taught me to
read at age four. Even more amazing is that I achieved my doctorate. I am an
example of a first-generation college graduate.
My great grandmother was the American Indian mixed with White
blood, hence that six percent from my mom’s side, and
this is probably why I have less Native blood since my cousins are not infused
with as much White blood in their veins. I do have regrets, however, that I
could never really write or publish my research. Life happened for me.”
Exerpts from her University of Kansas biography : Amber Reagan-Kendrick earned her bachelors in English and
Spanish from Sam Houston State University. She went on to earn both her masters
in English and her doctorate in American Studies from the University of Kansas.
She was Dean of Student and Community Services at Donnelly College before
working at Ottawa University as assistant professor in English and a senior
adviser at the Adawe Life Plan Center.
Dr. A. R-K PERSONAL PAPERS This collection
consists of dissertation interviews conducted by Amber Reagan-Kendrick while
studying at the University of Kansas. It contains responses from approximately
66 alumni discussing life as African American students at the University of
Kansas through the decades. Questions center on
topics from extracurricular activities to Greek life, athletics, housing,
academia, and awards. Graduation dates of participants began in 1928 and ended
in 1995
Related Materials Reagan-Kendrick, Amber.
"Ninety Years of Struggle and Access: African American History at the
University of Kansas." PhD. dissertation, University of
Kansas. American Studies, 2004. Located at
Spencer Research Library and Anschutz Library at Diss
2004 R2879.
Other Featured items:
Recent
CSPAN program on the history of the
U.S. NativeAmerican Boarding Schools programs
Program from Aug. 21 2022: click on the link in the program
title below, for access to the posted online recording of this important
program:
Interior
Secretary & Native Leaders Testify on Indian Boarding Schools 2 hours, 5 minutes
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Indian
leaders testified about the damage done by federal Native American boarding
schools created to acculturate native children starting in the 1870s. The
witnesses told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee how the schools resulted in
a loss of culture and language for tribes across the U.S., and they spoke about
ways Congress could better assist tribal nations in sharing this history and
repairing the damage done by removing native children from their parents.
========= For a general listing of CSPAN programs, go onlineto the CSPAN webpage.
Email
re current tribal membership issues;
TO: AAHGS-NE Members
From: Beverly Hector-Smith Sent: Mon, Jul 18, 2022 6:29 pm
Subject: When Tribal Nations Expel Their Black Members | The New Yorker
"Last year, the Cherokee Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee
Nation must remove the phrase “by blood” from its constitution and its laws. In
the court’s opinion, Justice Shawna Baker wrote, “Freedmen rights are inherent.
They extend to descendants of Freedmen as a birthright
springing from their ancestors’ oppression and displacement as people of color recorded and memorialized in Article 9 of the 1866
Treaty.” The ruling followed a 2017 U.S. district-court decision that affirmed freedpeople’s rights under the same treaty. Despite
continued controversy, many heralded the change as a manifestation of Cherokee
sovereignty, expressing an Indigenous political will to attend to a troubled
past. Certain members of the Five Tribes have quietly voiced similar
sentiments, and a comparable decision may lie in the Muscogees’
future. Such a reversal can no longer provide solace to Johnnie Mae Austin, but
there are others who share her experience of exclusion—others who still check
their mailboxes for the return of a tribal newsletter."
Other
newspaper stories!
from
NewYork Times Dec. 28, 2021 :
|
|
ALSO, another aspect of NA history that needs
to be remembered:
From Boston Globe 5/2/2021 Tribes grapple with their role in slavery
By Sean Murphy,
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — As the
United States faces a reckoning over its history of racism, some Native
American tribal nations that once enslaved people also are reckoning with their
mistreatment of Black people.
When Native American
tribes were forced from their ancestral homelands in the southeastern
United States to what is now Oklahoma in the 1800s — known as the Trail of
Tears — thousands of Black slaves owned by tribal members also were removed and
forced to provide manual labor along the way. Once in
Oklahoma, enslaved people often toiled on plantation-style farms or were
servants in tribal members’ homes.
Nearly 200 years later,
many of the thousands of descendants of those enslaved Black people, known as
Freedmen, are still fighting to be recognized by the tribes that once owned
their ancestors. The fight has continued since a Minneapolis police officer
killed George Floyd last year and spurred a re-examination of the vestiges of
slavery in the United States.
The Cherokee,
Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole
nations were referred to historically as the Five Civilized Tribes, or Five
Tribes, by European settlers because they often assimilated into the settlers’
culture, adopting their style of dress and religion, and even enslaving people.
Each tribe also has a unique history with Freedmen, whose rights were
ultimately spelled out in separate treaties with the United States.
Today, the Cherokee
Nation is the only tribe that fully recognizes the Freedmen as full citizens, a
decision that came in 2017 following years of legal wrangling. “I think that we
are a better tribe for having not only embraced the federal court decision but
embraced the concept of equality,’’ said Cherokee Nation Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., a longtime supporter
of citizenship rights for the Freedmen.
The Cherokee Nation,
among the largest Native American tribes, has about 5,800 Freedmen citizens who
have traced an ancestor on the tribe’s original Freedmen rolls in the late 19th
century. When the federal government sought to break up tribal reservations
into individual allotments after the Civil War, they created two separate
tribal rolls — one for members with American Indian blood and one for Freedmen.
In many cases, tribal citizens who appeared Black were placed on the Freedmen
rolls, even if they had blood ties to the tribe.
Of the Five Tribes,
only the Chickasaw Nation never agreed to adopt the Freedmen as citizens,
according to the Oklahoma Historical Society.
The Wewoka-based
Seminole Nation in particular faces fierce criticism after several Black tribal
citizens were denied COVID-19 vaccines at a federally operated American Indian
health clinic. The Seminole Nation says the decision about whether to provide
vaccines to Seminole Freedmen rests with the IHS, not the tribe.
“To be clear, the
Seminole Nation does not operate the Wewoka Indian Health Services clinic, has
absolutely no policy oversight and was in no way involved with administering
COVID-19 vaccines,’’ Seminole Nation Chief Greg Chilcoat
said in a statement. The agency said in a statement that it was reviewing
eligibility of Seminole Freedmen and will be working with the tribe to
determine what services IHS will provide. Seminole Freedmen say they are also
unable to receive services other tribal citizens get, including health care,
tribal license plates and housing subsidies.
=====================
Implication for general
U.S. race-relations of some of the history of relationships between Blacks and
Indians – click on this website link
MIT Panel on
Minorities in the US
===========
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
OTHER IMPORTANT BOOKS ON THESE
RELATIONSHIPS
Professor ROSALYN HOWARD was an Associate
Professor of Anthropology at the University of Central
Florida (UCF). She specializes in Cultural Anthropology and her primary area of
research is ethnohistorical studies of the African
Diaspora with a focus on the interrelationships formed by African and
Indigenous peoples in the Americas and the Caribbean. Dr.
Howard has conducted extensive research among mixed Native-African populations
in The Bahamas and Bermuda. Among her publications is the book entitled Black
Seminoles in the Bahamas, an ethnographic study of the Black Seminole
descendant community of Red Bays, Andros Island, Bahamas.
Dr. Howard is also a member of a public
anthropology research project entitled “Looking for Angola” currently compiling
archaeological, cultural, and archival evidence of an early 19th century
Florida maroon community, formerly located near present-day Sarasota, Florida,
which has a direct connection to Red Bays (www.lookingforangola.org). Prof. Howard is also a consultant to
the Cultural Heritage tourism project (co-sponsored by the State of Florida and
The Bahamas Ministries of Culture and Tourism) that connects the Red Bays
community to the Gullah corridor of South Carolina and Georgia, and Fort Mose near St. Augustine, Florida.
----------------
ANOTHER FEATURED BOOK:
NEARING PALENQUE: Reflections on Native
America
– New and Selected Poems
by Tom Jones
(ISBN 978-0-931053-95-5) $16.00
published by FootHills Publishing
P.O.Box 68
Kanona, NY 14856
www.foothillspublishing.com
This marvellous book contains many unusual poems by
Tom Jones, some inspired by his family history.
Here is one, titled “UNCONQUERED AMERICANS”
“Great-grandmother shared the Salt Clan’s hideout
during Kit
Carson’s war on Navajos, their land,
bluecoats
torturing, murdering Diné:
torching peach
orchards in Canyon de Chelly
Great-grandfather learned trails to secret pools
and grottos,
hidden caves and ambush spots
in the ancient,
sacred source Anglo-named
Grand Canyon, warrior with a free band”
================
OTHER featured NEWS
US Supreme Court favors
Muscogee Creek land
claims
(click on NYTimes link BELOW 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. For the Muscogee citizens, the win
was deeply personal For for the NYTimes story, click here.
=================================
FEATURED FAMILIES
CHARLES MCAFEE
“Considered one of 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
Johnson
and Hardin families
“The
Leavenworth Johnsons” descend from a “Madagascar woman” enslaved in Vicksburg
Mississippi, whose daughter “Betty” (from Elizabeth) had a son Joseph, and a daughter Carrie (from Catherine), fathered
perhaps by a member of the owner Butler
family headed by the slave-owning physician to local Native Americans.
Joseph,
who married Hattie McClanahan, had many children, including Myrtle, who married
Carl Russle Hardin, from whom the Hardin family of
Michigan and California descend. Joseph
and Hattie’s son Willard (Sr.) married Dorothy Stovall (of Humboldt KS) from whom one
branch of the Pasadena Johnsons descend.
Carrie also married a Johnson, and had a son James who married Florence (? Family name) from whom Edward
Johnson and his Pasadena family descend.
The
Hardin descendants
have teamed with some of Edward Johnson descendants to
self-published an interesting photo book of
“The Leavenworth Johnsons,”
==================================================
OTHER FEATURED ITEMS
AND LINKS:
Key early Community-building African American organizations and
people of
North-East
Kansas City, KS:
by the late Rev. Robert L. Baynham,
former Pastor of the Metropolitan Church
for video, click here
The
"Bleeding Kansas Heritage Area Project"
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:
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 PREVIOUS
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
Eliza Mayhew, born 1808
John C Pendergrass - 10th
Calvarey
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
or 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 60th
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"
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 KIAANAFH)
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 ,
QnA 1st part , QnA
2nd part
, QnA
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 this 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.)
================================================
-- OUR 2012 PUBLIC FORUM --
“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.)
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
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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.
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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
presentation, 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
<>
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, 2As=African
pyramids, N+A= “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.)
To join the KIAANAFH
Resident
Agent Mr. Eric Kirkwood
Rev. Robert L. Baynham Kansas City, KS (born in Kansas City, MO) ] For Payments (voluntary deductible
membership, or deductible contribution) send to: Contact at: Ms. Edith Walker, OTHER BOARD MEMBERS: Rev. Dr.
Khadijah Matin Clergy/Lecturer Brooklyn, NY (Topeka Kansas, Nebraska) Mr. Charles F. McAfee Architect (Wichita, KS) Ms. Geri Sanders former College administrator now Archivist, Black Archives of Mid-America (Kansas City, MO) Ms. Deborah Tucker retired college librarian Adamany Undergraduate Library Wayne State University |