Kansas City Celebrates African American History

Author to donate portion of proceeds from new book to Blanche Kelso Bruce Scholarship in Africana Studies at University of Central Missouri

Since 1803, African Americans have contributed to Kansas City’s rich history. Men and women like Tom Bass, Emily Fisher, and Hiram Young built the region in slavery and in freedom. In Kansas City, readers will be introduced to a jazz mecca of the 1920s and ‘30s, the establishment of the Kansas City Monarchs baseball team, the Kansas City Call newspaper and election of the city’s first black mayor, Emanuel Cleaver.

“Kansas City is a book of mini biographies, family histories and colorful personalities,” said author Delia Gillis. “Within these pages, you will meet slaves, slave owners, free blacks, educators, the clergy, musicians, journalists, athletes, businesspeople, soldiers, elected officials, public servants and even a millionaire.  From the famous to the infamous, from leaders to everyday people; this visual history provides a record of struggle and achievement of continuity and change.”

Highlights of Kansas City:

• Includes images of famous people and landmarks
• Features photos of important civic organizations
• Explains the history of Kansas City photographers, William Fambrough and Elijah Washington
• Showcases athletes and entertainers of Kansas City

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and on-line retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or www.arcadiapublishing.com. 

Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States.  Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America’s people and places.  Have we done a book on your town?  Visit www.arcadiapublishing.com

Kansas City
by Delia C.  Gillis
Black America  Series
Price: $19.99
128 pages/ softcover
Available:  January 29, 2007

Learn more ...

Fall 2006, ANTH 4815 - Special Projects: Early Human Evolution and Donald Johanson 1CH, 4:00-5:00, W, Wood 206

This short, weekly course will introduce the study of early human evolution in Africa, feature a student seminar with Donald Johanson (discoverer of the famous 'Lucy' fossil) during his campus visit on September 20, and further explore this topic and his research throughout the course.  Limited to 25 students.

For further information, please contact Dr. Jeff Yelton, 136O Wood, 660-543-4427.

Dr. Albert Camarillo, Stanford University will speak at 7pm on Thursday, January 26th on Comparative Urban Histories of European Immigrants, Mexican Americans, and African Americans, 1900-1980

Dr. Albert Camarillo is professor of history and the Miriam and Peter Haas Centennial Professor in Public Service at Stanford University. He is author of several books, including Chicanos in California: A History of Mexican Americans (1984) and Not White, Not Black: Mexicans and Racial/Ethnic Borderlands in American Cities (forthcoming).

El Grupo Folklorico Atotonilco: 7:30 p.m., Jan 27, 2006
This group has garnered a reputation as one of the best Mexican folk dance companies in the country. In 1997, they received the singular honor as the "Premiere Mexican Folk Dance Company in the United States." Mexico has a great dance tradition with formative roots in the ethnic groups that shape its culture.

Through dance, music and costumes, El Grupo Folklorico Atotonilco dances its way through history featuring the pre-Hispanic peoples who were indigenous to Mexico; the Spanish influence exerted during the conquests including elements of the Arab, African, and other European cultures; and the African peoples who arrived during the Spanish colonization period as slaves.

Unforgettable: The Nat "King" Cole Story: 7:30 p.m., Feb. 21, 2006
Unforgettable  is Nat "King" Cole's phenomenal life story. The son of an Alabama preacher, the soft-spoken jazz pianist became a worldwide singing sensation and the first performer of color to star in his own national TV program. Monroe Kent III, star of London's Five Guys Named Moe and North American tours of Dreamgirls  and Ain't Misbehavin' , headlines Unforgettable . Kent has already won wide-ranging praise for this portrayal of Cole in the United Kingdom and the Far East.   The Independent said it best , "Nat King Cole is perfectly performed by the velvet-voiced Monroe Kent ... he is irresistible."

For more information about the performance and Monroe Kent visit their web site!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, President John F Kennedy—all the great names are here—in their crucial moments, both public and private. There are unsung heroes too, like the young people who faced down fire hoses and police during Dr. King's march for Freedom in Birmingham, Alabama. This extraordinary new play also celebrates the power of theatre as a storytelling medium. Great music—from soaring gospel to pulsating protest songs—is used as it was then, to soothe the heart and raise the spirit. Then there are the scenes themselves. Wrought with clarity and deep emotion, their strength and immediacy cannot be denied. MARCH 3, 2005: 7pm in the Union Ballroom (Union 240). For details contact Dr. Gillis at 543-8726 or email @ dgillis@cmsu1.cmsu.edu

View the Printable Program

Slideshow now availabe, Black History 2006: Dearly Departed

(This slideshow is rather large in size, over 1 MB, please allow extra time for loading, especially if using a slower internet connection.)

Postal Service Unveils Black Heritage Stamp, Warrensburg, 02/21/2006

The U.S. Postal Service unveiled the 2006 African American Heritage commemorative stamp during a ceremony Feb. 17 in the James C. Kirkpatrick Library on the CMSU campus. Read more...

Burr Speaks At Unveiling (PDF, see p. 6)