(originally published 2/13/20) All of my books and most of my research have ties to the history of J.C. Nichols and the development of the Country Club District. But that single subject has sent me in a hundred directions of inquiry having little or nothing to do with Nichols. My interest in this week’s topicContinue reading “Pastime Park: “For the Accomodation of Colored People””
Category Archives: Race
A Wrong Made Right: In Honor of Yvonne Wilson
(originally published 10/17/19) Tuesday, October 15, 2019 – This morning, I woke to the radio telling me Yvonne Wilson had passed away. Wilson was a long-time local community leader who served in the Missouri State House for ten years, and during that tenure surely everyone living in Kansas City central has benefited from her hardContinue reading “A Wrong Made Right: In Honor of Yvonne Wilson”
Forest Park and the “Negro Fair”
(originally published 6/6/19) Though the 1950s and 60s were clearly two decades where significant efforts resulted in changes in civil rights, those efforts had been going on for decades before then. In researching the stories behind the amusement parks featured in the last post, I came across a series of newspaper accounts about one ofContinue reading “Forest Park and the “Negro Fair””
April 1968 – The Kansas City “Holy Week” Riots
(originally published 4/11/19) Across the country, it was labeled the “Holy Week Uprising.” Everything happened in those ten days leading up to Easter,. The Kansas City Star’s headline read “Holy Week Riots.” Whether you saw the events as an uprising – an act of resistance – or a riot – an act of violent disturbance,Continue reading “April 1968 – The Kansas City “Holy Week” Riots”
KC Backstories 