Director

Nicholas Chiles was born in Cross Roads, South Carolina, to Moses and Winnie Chiles. There he attended school and sold newspapers, developing an interest in the industry. He studied law with a prominent Southern judge and then lived briefly in Chicago.Chiles moved to Topeka in 1886. There he worked in the grocery, restaurant, and hotel businesses. Joseph Bass and Will Pope sold him a newspaper they had founded, the Topeka Call. He renamed the newspaper and in January 1899 published the first issue of the Topeka Plaindealer He served as editor and publisher for the rest of his life.Chiles developed a reputation for his timely and thought-provoking editorials on subjects of concern to African Americans in Topeka, around Kansas, and beyond the state's borders. A savvy businessman, Chiles grew the Plaindealer to be the most successful Black newspaper in Kansas. It was among the strongest Black newspapers in the nation and the longest-running.He was also a member of the Topeka Chapter of the AME Church starting in 1910. Chiles was defeated in his bid for Senator against Charles Curtis.

Other

This was the location of the home of Nicholas Chiles while he lived in Topeka. Chiles was an important figure in the early Civil Right's Movement as he worked to get the Catholic church involved in creating a better future for African Americans. As an influential voice on the place of black people in the Midwest at the turn of the 20th century, Chiles helped to found the Western Negro Publishers Association in 1896. Famously, he sent a letter to the Pope urging him to speak out on the treatment of African Americans in the US. He would live in the Topeka for much of his life after moving there in 1886.

Nicholas Chiles Residence 

Classroom

A tour of significant locations in telling the story of Black Topekans and Kansans, as well as important locations to black history and culture in the area. These locations work to tell critical stories in the state capital's history. It also seeks to provide some context for the historical and cultural changes in the city throughout the state's history. Each of these locations show that Topeka has a rich section of black history and culture as a part of its foundation.

When Edward P. McCabe stepped off the train in Ellis, Kansas, hefted his bag, and set out on a 35-mile walk to the fledgling new town of Nicodemus with his friend, he was a man filled with aspirations and ideas. He was also taking the first steps to a political career that would shape the young state of Kansas.Born in New York in 1850, McCabe and his family moved frequently throughout the Northeast – Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine – during the pre-Civil War and Civil War years and when his father died, McCabe set his sights on New York City and began working as a clerk for the Shreve, Kendrick &amp; Co. law firm on Wall Street. A few years later he headed west to Chicago and secured a job clerking for business tycoon and hotel magnate, Potter Palmer. By 1872, educated and connected, McCabe was appointed to the Cook County office of the federal treasury in Chicago as a clerk. His political career was in motion. Six years later, at the age of 28, McCabe was stirred by stories of Black migration and decided to take advantage of the free land made available through the Homestead Act and move west. In 1878 McCabe and his friend and political ally Abram T. Hall, Jr., who was the city editor of the Chicago Conservator newspaper, moved to the brand-new, all-Black town of Nicodemus. The two men set up a law office, specializing in real estate and land location. McCabe and his family had not been enslaved, and he had an interest in helping those who were building a free life on the high, arid plains of western Kansas. The business had the potential to be lucrative and further his political aspirations.  Nicodemus, located in Graham County, was a town with purpose and promise. Founded by formerly enslaved people in 1877, Nicodemus was seen as a refuge – a safe place for African Americans to build new lives. It was the very first Black community west of the Mississippi River and is the only predominantly Black community west of the Mississippi that remains a living community today. With the forced removal of thousands of Indigenous people living in the area between the 1850s and 1870s, Kansas became a destination for Black farmers, families, entrepreneurs, activists, and businessmen wanting a fresh start and a fair shake. Earlier in the decade, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed and Kansas was the 25th state to ratify it. The amendment made it illegal to deny U.S. citizens the right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” But African Americans knew that although amendments may allow for rights, they do not ensure them. Voices and votes – advocacy and civic engagement – were critical to the success of this town and others like it, and McCabe and Hall immediately got involved. Given his experience in such matters and his interest in politics, McCabe was elected secretary of the Nicodemus Town Company, while Hall petitioned to make Graham County an official county in Kansas. The growing number of white settlers in the area had other ideas. Kansas Governor John Pierce St. John acknowledged the validity of Hall’s petition for county status and appointed him to complete the requisite census. In doing so, Hall became the first African American census taker in the United States. Between 1878 and 1880, Hall continued his work as a journalist and established himself as the official correspondent from Graham County. He sent letters and wrote persuasive columns to newspapers throughout Kansas. His skillful writing is credited with helping to shape Kansans’ favorable perception of the Nicodemus colony. Meanwhile, their land office became prosperous and, with frequent trips to Topeka, the two men became acquainted with African American politicians in eastern Kansas, and they soon became influential in state politics. In 1880, Hall departed Nicodemus for St. Louis while McCabe had a banner year in Kansas. He was elected to be the county clerk in Graham County, selected by the Kansas Republican Party to be a delegate-at-large from Kansas to the Chicago convention of the Republican Party, and he married Sarah Bryant, a friend from his days in Chicago. McCabe had linked his future and his fortunes on the success of Black settlements. The African American population in Kansas had grown from 17,700 in 1870 to 43,000 a decade later but it remained less than five percent of the state’s total population. McCabe wanted it larger.By his 32nd birthday, McCabe was elected to the post of state auditor, making him the first African American in Kansas to hold state office. The position was important and a key function of state government. State auditors were authorized to inspect all records of all departments and institutions of state government and to investigate any misuse in the disbursement of public funds. His election to this high-ranking position was impressive. He had only been in Kansas for five years. McCabe held this position for two terms between 1883 and 1887 before losing for re-election the third time.  After the loss, McCabe became the federal representative of the Oklahoma Immigration Society, a group of African Americans from Kansas who organized a real estate venture and moved to the new territory. McCabe ultimately went on to help establish approximately 20 towns in both Kansas and Oklahoma populated with Exodusters.Edward P. McCabe died in Chicago in 1920, survived by his wife, Sarah, and daughter, Lenore. McCabe and his wife are buried in the Topeka Cemetery.  A celebration of the life of Edward P. McCabe took place on 1990 with the display of a portrait of McCabe in the Oklahoma State Capitol Building. Today, the portrait hangs in the East wing of the second floor.

E. P. McCabe was an influential member of the Nicodemus community. Born on October 10, 1850, in Troy, New York, he worked for a Wall Street firm before moving to Chicago to work at the Cook County Courthouse in the Treasurer’s Office. In 1878, McCabe arrived in Nicodemus with his friend Abraham T. Hall after joining the Exoduster movement. There McCabe served as secretary of the Nicodemus Town Company, and then County Clerk in 1881 before serving two terms as State Auditor, making him the first African American to hold a statewide office in Kansas. After losing the nomination for the third term, he was appointed Washington Representative of the Oklahoma Immigrant Association, which required him to move from Kansas to Guthrie, Oklahoma where he attained other political posts and fought against segregation, especially in railway coaches and waiting rooms. One of his most profound ideas included making Oklahoma an All-Black state, beginning with the founding of the city of Langston. He died on March 12, 1920, in Chicago but is buried in at the Historic Topeka Cemetery. Today, McCabe is remembered as one of the most important and influential Kansas figures. He is buried in Section 82 of the Historic Topeka Cemetery.

Gravesite of Edward P. McCabe 

The Nicholas Chiles Memorial Bridge is in Topeka, Kansas. The bridge stand as a way over the Shunganunga Creek. It is was supposed to be on&nbsp;S.E. 10th and west of Branner Trafficway. Pope Pius X and Nicholas Chiles had their letter exchange in 1904. The man honored, Nick Chiles, was a newspaper owner and editor for the The Plaindealer in Topeka. He was most known during his life for his activism. This activism led him have a famous letter exchange with the Pope over racial discrimination. This event received notable recognition at the time. This was six years before the founding of NAACP in 1910. Nick Chiles is, undoubtedly, a figure in the early Civil Rights Movement. Not just a notable newspaper editor. Despite his achievements and position in turn of the century Topeka (Being a rich man in the community), he still has no monument. This is not a Clio Project for the monument, it is a Clio Project to what could have been. As, after it's proposal, the the idea of naming the bridge&nbsp;for Nick Chiles was rejected.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;During an annual meeting of Western Negro Press Association, the group adopted a resolution. President Nicholas Chiles and the members were concerned with lynching, inequality, and the new system of segregation. We do not have a copy of the letter, but we can infer by using Pope Pius’ letter. Chiles wanted Catholics to help African-Americans or that the Pope should hold the United States accountable for their mistreatment. Chiles sent copy of the letter to Senator Burton. The letter was, then sent through Cardinal Gibbons, who sent the letter to the Pope and received his response.What was the Pope’s response?&nbsp;Pope Pius X says that all races are equal in Christ. He also says all Catholics must befriend African-Americans. African-Americans in return were to be religious and take part in redemption. He says that, although African-Americans “commit the most crimes”, they deserve equal treatment under the law. The Pope’s letter was the one that got notoriety, but the articles always mentioned Nick Chiles. Perhaps, because this was unheard of at the time. Unfathomable, that the Pope would respond to such minor people. Nonetheless, this chapter of Nick Chiles’ life would have been lost to the ages if it wasn’t for Pope Pius. Nicholas Chiles was a notable man, in his own right. He was most known nationally for the letter exchange, but he filled his life with other amazing accomplishments. Such as, when he bailed Carrie Amelia Nation (the temperance activist, destroyed saloons) out of jail and worked with her on a short lived temperance newspaper called The Smasher’s Mail. It was discontinued, due to disagreements between the two.As noted before, this is a moment in early Civil Rights, not the first and not the last, but an unknown moment. This event predates the NAACP’s birth and lynching campaign. It might have been one of the first stands for Civil Rights in the 20th century. The envelope is pushed again in 1926. Chiles would run against Charles Curtis for Kansas State Senate, he would win 8,000 votes, but he didn’t win the position. He was the first Black man to run. But eventually, he was cast aside by the Black community, during the time Woodrow Wilson, as he was too soft and civil with issues and sending letters wasn’t working.But, despite all of these achievements. This monument is nowhere to be seen. Here’s the supposed location in Google Maps. But, there’s no marker or pinpoint for it. I can suspect that this is the location.&nbsp;

It is 1904. This event happened with one man in Topeka and another in The Vatican.
Nicholas Chiles, an established editor and owner of The Plaindealer. Pope Pius X is the Pope during the turn of the century. 
The important groups were Western Negro Press Association who sent the letter and The Pope, Pius X, who sent a letter in response. 
This event gained a significant amount of attention during the time. This is a mostly unknown piece of Civil Rights history. Yet this event is only remembered because it was the Pope.    


Nick Chiles Memorial Bridge

John Ritchie was born on July 17, 1817 in Uniontown, Ohio. As he grew up he began getting involved in politics in his community as well as farming and real estate development. He married&nbsp;Mary Jane Shelleday on January 16, 1838 in Franklin, Indiana. The couple moved to the Kansas territory in 1854, settling near the town of Topeka. It should also be noted that Mary was only the fifth woman to settle in Kansas and their young son, Hale, was the third child to be born there. After living in a dugout through the first winter, John Ritchie built his home around 1856, a modest limestone structure that stands in what is today 1116 SE Madison Street. Ritchie was very involved in the Topeka community, being selected to serve in two of the four Kansas Constitutional Conventions: the Leavenworth convention&nbsp;in 1858 and the Wyandotte Convention in 1859. Both John and Mary were devout&nbsp;abolitionists and would play a big part in what would become known as "Bleeding Kansas."&nbsp; Bleeding Kansas was the time when the United States Government let the citizens of Kansas decide whether Kansas would be a Slave State or a Free State. This caused many bouts if infighting in the territory, with both sides resorting to violence and&nbsp;bloodshed. Kansas was particularly dangerous for runaway slaves, as they were hunted down by their former&nbsp;owners, federal law enforcement, and the slave catchers along the riverbanks. The John Ritchie&nbsp;soon opened his home to slaves as part of the underground railroad and joined a group later called the "Topeka Boys".&nbsp; One notable event during this time was when John helped a fellow abolitionist and eleven slaves avoid detection by federal troops and allowed them to escape into Nebraska. That abolitionist was John Brown.&nbsp;When the American Civil War broke out, John enlisted in the Union Army, where he quickly rose to the rank of&nbsp;lieutenant colonel and served in the&nbsp;5th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry and the&nbsp;2nd Regiment, Indian Home Guard. He later got a brevet promotion to Brigadier General in 1865. After the civil war, many African Americans migrated to Kansas to settle down, and John Ritchie sold many of them land around his homestead. A school for Black children was soon built on some of the land that Ritchie sold, known as Monroe School, which would later become the center of attention in the Brown v. Board of Education court case.

Recently restored by the Shawnee County Historical Society, the John Ritchie House was home to abolitionists John and Mary Ritchie. The Ritchies supported John Brown and other militant opponents of slavery during the frontier period known as "Bleeding Kansas." They also used this home to shelter runaway slaves during Kansas's territorial period when slavery was legal and assisting runaway slaves was a capital crime according to the notorious slave codes of the Lecompton government.

John Ritchie Homestead

After moving to Topeka, Chiles made a name for himself in the grocery, restaurant, and hotel businesses before purchasing the Topeka Call from its previous owners, Joseph Bass and Will Pope, and renaming it the Topeka Plaindealer. In 1899, Chiles published the first issue of the Plaindealer which would become a powerful voice in the African American community in the region. Chils served as the paper's editor and publisher until he died in 1929. Nick Chiles' editorial success and business ventures supported later philanthropic efforts, and Chiles soon gained a regional reputation as an active civil rights leader. Additionally, he helped found the Western Negro Publishers Association (WNPA), which helped develop editorial objectives for advocacy and education for Black publishers in several states: Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma; the association ran until 1920. In the years before the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Chiles and the WNPA famously developed a connection with the Pope. During an annual meeting of WNPA, the group adopted a resolution to combat lynching, inequality, and segregation. In 1903, following the death of Pope Leo XIII and the appointment of his successor, Pope Pius X, the WNPA sent a message of congratulations to Pius X, combined with a request for him to denounce racial discrimination in the United States, including in Catholic-dominated labor unions noting that the Protestant church in America was deaf to cause. Because American Protestants routinely expressed suspicion of Catholicism in the early 20th century, reaching out to the Pope carried an exceedingly sharp edge. Pope Pius X responded by publicly stating that all races were equal in the eyes of Christ and commanded all Catholics to befriend African Americans while also noting that African Americans should, in return, seek forgiveness from God (serve in Christ). The Pope did not shy from mentioning Nick Chiles (a Black minority) in his public statements, an uncommon behavior for the era. Chiles frequently conversed with politicians in an attempt to curtail the violence against Black Americans, and he usually pointed out the conflict between Christian values and white supremacy. In 1913, Chiles conversed with South Carolina Senator Benjamin Tillman, an ardent white supremacist. In a series of four letters (two written by each man), Chiles urged Tillman to repent of his racism, noting that it was Tillman's duty as a Christian to denounce violence against African Americans and accept Black Americans as equal to White Americans. Despite Chiles' well-argued points, Tillman continued to assert his position of the superiority of the Whites. Chiles eventually published the four letters in his Topeka Plaindealer while insisting that Black Americans should pray for Tillman in hopes that Tillman would repent before he died. Chiles also sent a telegram to President Woodrow Wilson asking him to name a day of prayer to stop the lynchings and other actions committed against African Americans, to the Oklahoma governor after the 1921 Tulsa riots that left a Black community in shambles, and to the governor of Georgia, challenging each one to see the hypocrisy of proclaiming Christian values while also looking the other way at violence against African Americans. The buildings, which remain structurally sound in 2023 despite being vacant and facing an uncertain future, stand as a reminder of Chiles' newspaper, his activism, and the racism facing all African Americans in the early- and mid-twentieth century.

These three Topeka buildings were owned by Nick Chiles, an African American entrepreneur, political and civil rights activist, and editor who moved to Topeka in 1886. Chiles founded, edited, and published the Topeka Plaindealer, which had the largest circulation of any Black newspaper west of the Mississippi River, from 1899 until he died at age 61 in 1929. The Plaindealer, published from 1899 to 1958, was the nation's longest-running Black newspaper. This trio of downtown Topeka buildings stand as a reminder of Chiles' and the newspaper's legacy.

Nick Chiles Buildings

On October 1855, 40 Free State delegates elected from across Kansas Territory gathered to write a document now known as "the Topeka Constitution" which prohibited slavery. While this document passed the U.S. House of Representatives, pro-slavery forces prevented the vote in the Senate. On July 4, 1856, 400 U.S. Army troops on horseback assembled in front of Constitution Hall. Calling it the most painful duty of his life, Col. Edwin V. Sumner dispersed the legislators. The Northern-dominated House of Representatives still approved the Topeka legislature's request to recognize the state constitution they drafted and submitted to voters. The Topeka Constitution, in contrast to the one passed by the pro-slavery government in Lecompton, barred slavery. Southerners in the Senate were able to block the admission of Kansas as a free state in 1856.&nbsp; Despite overwhelming evidence that the pro-slavery faction in Lecompton did not represent the sovereign will of the people of Kansas, then-President Franklin Pierce supported the pro-slavery government in Lecompton and actually declared that the Free Soilers who met in Kansas represented an&nbsp;insurrection&nbsp;against law and order. As a result, Kansas was denied statehood until after Lincoln's victory in the Presidential Election of 1860. As&nbsp;Southern Congressmen left Washington in protest, Congress approved a new&nbsp;anti-slavery state constitution, known as the&nbsp;Wyandotte Constitution, and admitted&nbsp;Kansas as a state on January 29, 1861.&nbsp; In&nbsp;remembrance&nbsp;of Pierce's&nbsp;opposition,&nbsp;Topeka skipped Pierce in its section of city&nbsp;streets named in honor of American presidents. In his place, Topeka has a street named after&nbsp;Henry Clay-a moderate on the issue of slavery's western extension and a&nbsp;political rival of Pierce who never served as President.&nbsp;

Constitution Hall was the first stone building in the city of Topeka and served as the headquarters of protest government formed by anti-slavery settlers in the early years of the Kansas Territory. Between the creation of the territory in 1854 and the start of the Civil War, Congress recognized a pro-slavery government based out of Lecompton as the legitimate government of the territory. In response, settlers representing the majority of Kansans who opposed the extension of slavery into their territory created their own government which was headquartered at this location. After statehood was granted in 1861 (without slavery) this building also served as the official meeting place of the new state government during construction of the East Wing of the Statehouse, five blocks to the south.

Constitution Hall-The Free State Capitol

Brief History of the African Episcopal Church
The church was officially established as the Methodist Church Mission in 1868. Before the founding of the Methodist Church Mission in 1868, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church had been providing opportunities to African Americans since 1787. As the oldest Black organized institution in the United States, starting in Philadelphia, the Church grew out of the Free African Society (FAS). As a religious organization, it&nbsp;developed due to sociological differences as opposed to theological differences, making it one of the first to do so in the Western Hemisphere.&nbsp;The Church’s mission continues to carry the spirit of the original FAS, which is to seek out and save the lost, and serve the needy. In concordance with this mission, AME has also endured as one of the major forerunners of education in the broader African-American community.1&nbsp;
History of the St. John AME Church
Beginning in 1868, the Methodist Church Mission (which was&nbsp;not officially affiliated with an organized religion) met in a small place known as “Alley Barn,” which is located between present-day Harrison and Van Buren Streets. Topeka wasn’t known for having a large African-American community at the time, and Alley Barn was located near the few homes of free African-American men and many ex-slaves who had migrated to Kansas. These ex-slaves typically came from Tennessee, which later led to the community serving Topeka’s “Tennessee Town” neighborhood.&nbsp;
For the first nine years, the Methodist Church Mission didn’t have a pastor. In 1877, Pastor John M. Wilkerson became the first minister, and that same year, he chartered the organization into the St. John AME Church. This made the church the first AME Church in Topeka, and Pastor Wilkerson stated in the church’s charter that is was formed for&nbsp; "Religious, Benevolent, and Charitable purposes, for the promotion of religion, and piety amongst mankind as taught by the Holy Bible, and as taught and practiced by the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States."
On the corner of Second and Madison streets, the congregation bought land and began building their first church in 1879. Members also laid plans to build a different church on the corner of Seventh Street and Topeka Boulevard, and until this second church was completed in 1889, the congregation gathered in the basement of the first building.&nbsp;
By 1908, the first church was torn down with hopes for a new edifice. The architectural drawings of the new church are often associated with the work of Louis M. Wood, as these drawings resemble the current church today. Beginning in 1908, the new church underwent three major construction periods and was officially completed in 1926.&nbsp;
St. John AME Church and Social Movements
Although St. John AME Church's primary mission revolves around&nbsp;religious services, it has also played a significant&nbsp;role in various American social movements since 1868. The historic activities of the church are quite numerous, but they typically fall within three categories - Black Migration, Literacy, and Equality and Civil Rights.
Black Migration is most related to the Church’s earlier days, when ex-slaves and freed men in pursuit of freedom and a greater standard of living were moving in great numbers from southern states, particularly Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia.&nbsp;Known as the Exodus Movement to Kansas, the St. John AME Church helped migrants and immigrants set up a livelihood in the budding city. In 1865, there were about 839 African Americans living in Topeka, though over the next few decades, hundreds more joined the community. This was, in part, due to the fact that Topeka was a “drop-off” point for ex-slaves.&nbsp;Many stayed in Topeka with the help of the St. John AME Church, though hopes for a bright future were limited due to significant hardship. Furthermore, many of the migrants came to Topeka carrying a myriad of sicknesses and diseases, such as measles, pneumonia, pleurisy, consumption, and the bloody flux.&nbsp;
At the same time, the St. John AME Church had created Sunday schools and other social organizations to help people enhance their literacy skills. In the 1870s and ‘80s, St. John was a prominent host that discussed political, social, literary, and religious issues, with topics&nbsp;ranging from the destructive force of lawyers to resolutions declaring that Native Americans had suffered more than African Americans at the hands of the “White Race.”&nbsp;
In 1874, however, the relationship between educational segregation and Topeka was already on the rise, and leaders of St. John publicly expressed concerns that segregation in education, in public accommodations, and in common carries belied Kansas’s reputation for complete liberty and exact equality. As noted, Topeka was the epicenter of the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954.&nbsp;
Other equality movements included the formation of the State Central Relief Committee in 1879 by Reverend Thomas W. Henderson, which oversaw relief efforts directed at immigrating freed men. A year earlier, Reverend Henderson was also involved with the formation of the first African-American press in Topeka.&nbsp;The St. John AME Church would continue to be involved with major social, civic, and political issues of the day, including the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s.2&nbsp;

Established in 1868 St. John AME Church remains one of the most essential institutions within Topeka’s African American community. The congregation assisted former slaves as they traveled west in search of farmland prior to and during the 'Exodus' of 1879 that saw twenty thousand African American sharecroppers abandon the South after the failure of Reconstruction. The church continues to play a central role in the community, offering everything from from religious services to a forum to address civil and social issues. Construction of the current church building began in 1908 and it was completed in 1926. The St. John AME Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

St. John AME Church, Topeka Kansas 

These are the two gyms of Topeka High School. The gym attached to the school is best known as the "Dungeon." Its court, Nicklin Court, is named after the beloved longtime men's basketball coach Willie Nicklin. The Dungeon can seat approximately 4,000 fans. The spectator stands are completely made out of metal giving the arena a much louder atmosphere for all visitors and opposing teams of the Trojans, but not all Trojans were actually able to play in this arena.Until the 1949-1950 season, Topeka High School still barred Black students from certain sports teams and cheer squads. As a result, Black students started their own teams and squads (though the school would provide them with bussing and uniforms). In 1929 the first black Topeka basketball team, the Cardinals, was founded. In 1935 they became the Ramblers.It is very important to note that it was the school's basketball teams that were segregated as the school actually had several integrated sports teams. Black students played on the Trojan football, ran for the Trojan track team, and even would play basketball in the same gym class with the students from the Trojan basketball team.The Ramblers were held to strict rules. They were prohibited form practicing or holding games on the grounds of Topeka High. Instead, they were forced to practice and have games at East Topeka Junior High. The Ramblers were also only provided with two basketballs–one of which was designated as a game ball, thus only one ball was available for practice unless a player owned his own ball and was willing to bring it to practice.The 1948-1949 season was Ramblers' last as sports started becoming more integrated nationally. The Ramblers have several notable alumni, two of which were key to the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education case: Oliver Brown and Charles Scott.

Before becoming one of the most diverse schools in Topeka, Topeka High School (THS), like many schools, was segregated and barred Black students from participating in many school activities. From 1929 to 1949, the Ramblers gave students an opportunity to participate in basketball and play against other black students teams from the surrounding area (Kansas City, St. Joseph, Fort Scott, Leavenworth, Coffeyville, etc.).

Topeka High School: Separation of Sports

Langston Hughes, born in 1901 in Joplin, Missouri, lived in Topeka as a boy until the age of seven. His mother, a native Kansan and daughter of free Black homesteaders in the 1870s, moved to Kansas City for work when Langston was seven years old. She left him in the care of his elderly (aged well into her 70s) maternal grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas. In his autobiography, The Big Sea, Langston explained that he was exceptionally lonely and unhappy living with his grandmother but found solace in books. In the seventh grade, Langston served as Class Poet. Shortly thereafter, he moved back with his mother to Lincoln, Illinois, and then to Cleveland, where he attended high school. From there, Langston traveled to Latin America, Africa, and Europe. He published his first poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," in 1921. The poem appeared in The Crisis, the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and then included in his first book of poetry, The Weary Blues (1926), which he completed at age twenty-four. In 1930 his first novel, Not Without Laughter, won the Harmon gold medal for literature. Hughes wrote insightful portrayals of Black life in America from the 1920s to the 1960s through his poetry, novels, short stories, and the eleven plays he composed. Rather than interject his personal stories into his writing, he aimed to tell stories that shed light on African American culture, which included their love of music, laughter, and language, alongside their struggles and heartaches. Although well-traveled, he eventually landed in New York City's Harlem community, where he spent the bulk of his adult life. While there, he grew fond of jazz, which influenced his writing. Indeed, he became one of the first to write "jazz poetry," one of the factors that made Langston a significant figure in the "Harlem Renaissance," a wave of Black culture that grew out of Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s. He matured into the only Black writer able to make a living entirely from his writing (a challenging task for writers of any race) and still enjoys a reputation as one of America's greatest writers.

Langston Hughes, an acclaimed African American writer, is known for his insightful portrayals of Black life in America from the 1920s to the 1960s. Langston wrote novels, short stories, plays, and poetry, including an innovative type of poetry referred to as jazz poetry. His work contributed mightily to the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. Additionally, he wrote a weekly column for The Chicago Defender, a leading Black newspaper, from 1942 to 1962. Although he only lived in Topeka briefly, recent evidence demonstrated that the historic Queen Anne home served as his boyhood home from around age one to seven when he moved to Lawrence, Kansas. At age six, his mother successfully enrolled him in a nearby, predominantly White school, despite their initial efforts to steer him to a school located further away (where African Americans attended).

Langston Hughes Boyhood Home

The Sumner Elementary School was constructed in
1936 by local&nbsp;architect Thomas W. Williamson,
perhaps best noted for his design of the Topeka High School and the First
National Bank of Topeka. Ironically,&nbsp;he also constructed Topeka's Monroe&nbsp;School, which&nbsp;will forever be associated with Sumner&nbsp;because of the&nbsp;connection of both schools with the landmark 1954
Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of
Education&nbsp;of Topeka.&nbsp;In 1896, the high court's&nbsp;decision,&nbsp;Plessy v. Ferguson, established the “separate but equal” legal doctrine, which had been
followed by the courts for most of the next fifty years. Esther Brown, a white, liberal woman in the Kansas City suburb of Merriam,&nbsp;became incensed at the more favorable treatment of the local school board towards its white students over its Black children. She urged the local NAACP to take action. At the time, there were 18 white schools in Topeka and only four Black schools; this necessitated many&nbsp;Black schoolchildren traveling very long distances to attend the segregated schools that would accept them. However, the Topeka Superintendent of Schools was a supporter of segregation, and even some African-American teachers supported the status quo, fearing that the schools would fire them, under pressure from white parents, if the schools were ever&nbsp;integrated. The Topeka Secretary of the NAACP wrote the national president of the organization to protest against the "unbearable" situation for Black schoolchildren in the city. African-American attorney Robert Carter, a member of future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall's Legal Defense Fund office, became lead attorney in the case, and he began to look for plaintiffs.&nbsp; Local welder and part-time minister Oliver Brown was distressed that his daughter Linda had to leave his house at 7:40 each morning and&nbsp;walk through a dangerous switching yard to wait, in all manner of weather, at a poorly-timed bus stop (at which the bus was also often late), in order to be driven over an hour across town to the all-Black Monroe School. Yet the all-white Sumner School was only a few blocks from the Brown home. Brown tried to enroll his daughter in the third grade class at Sumner, but was denied because she was Black. He agreed to be a plaintiff in the case along with twelve other local Black parents. A complaint was filed with the First District Court of&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;in early 1951.&nbsp; Esther Brown helped arrange local accommodations for Carter, his legal team and the expert witnesses he had assembled. These witnesses were necessary to make the case to the judges that the entire doctrine of "separate but equal" was flawed: there could be no equality in a segregated school system. University of Kansas psychiatrist Louisa Holt testified that the very fact of segregation created an&nbsp;internalized "sense of inferiority" among Black students. After much similar&nbsp;testimony, the District Court ruled unanimously in favor of the defendants, the Topeka Board of Education, but only because of the Supreme Court&nbsp;precedent of&nbsp;Plessy v. Ferguson. The judges' sympathies, however,&nbsp;were plainly with the plaintiffs (the parents in the case), and they expressed their opinion in a famous passage, influenced by Ms. Holt's testimony: "Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of law; for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn."&nbsp; In December 1952, the Kansas case was "bundled" with four other cases - from South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware and the District of Columbia - all five arguing against the constitutionality of segregation. At that time, only&nbsp;four of the nine&nbsp;justices on the court were in favor of overturning segregation. However, they voted to have the case re-argued during the following Supreme Court term, and in the interim, conservative Chief Justice Vinson died of a heart attack and was replaced by liberal Earl Warren. Thurgood Marshall was part of the plaintiffs' legal team, arguing the South Carolina case, but as one author observed, after the replacement of Vinson with Warren, "Marshall could have stood up there and recited 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' and the result would have been exactly the same."&nbsp;In May 1954, the Supreme Court issued the unanimous&nbsp;Brown v. Board of Education&nbsp;decision (Warren had discouraged the conservative justices from dissenting), which concluded that segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, ending legal&nbsp;segregation in the public schools. Within three years of the decision, the integration of Topeka's schools was completed. Ironically, by&nbsp;the time the decision was issued, Linda Brown and the other twelve child plaintiffs had already moved on to integrated junior high schools. However, Linda's two younger siblings were able to benefit from the integration of Topeka's elementary schools.&nbsp;Oliver Brown died in 1961. The Sumner Elementary School was originally designed as a two-story, brick structure with 13 rooms, a tower, a basement, and auditorium. The exterior is enhanced by stone decorative bas reliefs in the Art Deco style. In the years since its construction, the school underwent a number of&nbsp;renovations. Despite being added in 1987 to the National Register of Historic Places, the school was closed in 1996 and subsequently suffered from vandalism and neglect. The Rev. W. R. Portee, minister of a nondenominational Christian church based in Los Angeles, purchased the Sumner school building at a city auction in April 2009 for $89,000. However, plans to turn the school into a civil rights monument have not yet been fulfilled, and it still lies vacant as of May 2017.

The Sumner Elementary School, constructed in 1936 by the School Board of Topeka, remained in the early 1950s what it had been from the beginning: an all-white school. Oliver Brown, an African-American welder for the Santa Fe Railroad and a part-time minister at a local church, tried to enroll his daughter, Linda, in the school, but was denied because of Linda's race. He agreed to be part of a class action suit in February 1951 in the First U.S. District Court of Kansas to have the Topeka Board of Education's decision declared illegal. But in August, the judges unanimously ruled against the plaintiffs, citing a previous Supreme Court decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, which had upheld the legality of segregation. The plaintiffs took their case to the Supreme Court, along with cases from four other districts and, because Oliver Brown was the lead plaintiff, the case forever became known as Brown v. Board of Education. On May 17, 1954, the high court unanimously overturned the District Court's decision, making segregation in U.S. public schools illegal. The school was closed in 1996 and abandoned, but was purchased by a Los Angeles-based minister in April 2009, with the intention of turning it into a community center and human rights memorial. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. 

Sumner Elementary School, Topeka

In 1902, William Reynolds, a Black resident of Topeka, attempted to admit his son to the newly constructed Lowman Hill School, but the school turned Reynolds away. Instead, officials ordered Reynolds' son and the district's other African American children to attend an old, dilapidated two-room wooden structure. Reynolds responded by filing a lawsuit claiming that the separation of children by race violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the condition in the state constitution that required the establishment of a uniform system of schools. Kansas' highest court disposed of Reynolds' claims finding that the city's educational system was consistent and equal for Blacks and Whites regardless of whether they were separated. In short, the court legalized the principle of "separate but equal."The results of the Reynolds case led to a slow process of segregating Topeka's school system. From 1908 to 1924, the city school board struggled to provide for all its schools as its total student population climbed from 6,216 to 13,811. The lack of teachers in African American schools forced principals to teach full-time rather than perform their administrative duties. Schools in African American communities also had to deal with Southern migrants arriving without previously receiving a proper education, straining teachers further. Meanwhile, overcrowding in both White and Black schools handcuffed the school board; they could not move Black students from White schools to Black schools despite outcries from some White residents. The passage of an $850,000 bond in the 1920s finally allowed the city to move towards a fully segregated school system. The school board launched an ambitious construction program, building four Black and eighteen White elementary schools. Deeming schools all equal and sufficient to provide quality education, the board determined that the 1928 - 1929 school year would be the last in which Black and White children would attend school together. But, not everyone agreed with the new policy, notably because Black students often had to travel much farther to their schools than White children. Several lawsuits were quickly filed protesting the segregation philosophy, including one aided by the Topeka Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP-supported case is the only one that made it to court, but the court ruled in favor of the defendant (school board), and the Kansas Supreme Court also decided in favor of the school board. Few challenged the school segregation issue during the Great Depression, but a new challenge arose in 1941 in the Graham v. The Board of Education of Topeka case. The Graham case shed light on the difference in programs for Black and White students beyond the sixth grade. White students attended three years of junior high school (grades seven through nine), while Black students continued in elementary school for seventh and eighth grades and then transferred to a junior high school for ninth grade. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in favor of Graham, citing the different systems as discriminatory. The Graham case ostensibly served as the first step towards desegregation, but not everyone in the African American community celebrated it as progress. Many within the Black community wanted to fight to protect the jobs of Black teachers, while others did not want their children to attend a White school. Still, many within the African American community, including influential people at the NAACP, felt it necessary to address the broader argument of treating African Americans differently than White Americans. The debate, both within the Black community and among Whites and Blacks, continued throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s, including after the infamous Brown v. Board of Education case that ultimately ended segregation nationwide in 1954. As many within the African American neighborhoods feared, Black school teachers, because of integration, lost their jobs despite many of them holding advanced degrees. In short, while students integrated, only a few African American teachers gained employment in formerly all-White schools. And, in the case of Buchanan Elementary, the entire school closed in 1959.

Built in 1885, Buchanan Elementary was a cornerstone of the Topeka's Black "Tennessee Town" Community. In 1893, Reverend Dr. Charles Sheldon opened Topeka's first free kindergarten in Tennessee Town, which moved to Buchanan Elementary School in 1910. By the time of the Brown v Board of Education lawsuit in the 1950s, Buchanan Elementary School operated as one of Topeka's four African American elementary schools. However, despite the abundance of positives emanating from segregation, the landmark court case and consequent desegregation did alter life within Black enclaves and affect their schools; Buchanan closed in 1959, and many Black teachers lost their jobs.

Buchanan Elementary School

The Topeka Council of Colored Women’s Clubs (TCCWC) was founded in 1923 by Beatrice Childs, president of the Kansas Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, to bring Black women together for community engagement work. The TCCWC consisted of seven different clubs, and these clubs were a staple of African American community leadership, with involvement in voter registration, suffrage and civil rights movements, and the Brown v. Board of Education case, among many other causes and activities. In 1931, TCCWC members purchased their clubhouse at 1149 SW Lincoln St. Prior to the purchase of the clubhouse, club members hosted meetings and events at their homes or churches on a rotating basis, so the establishment of an official clubhouse gave members a sense of accomplishment and purpose. The clubhouse was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, and visitors can find inspiration from the leadership and community engagement exemplified by the clubs.

Starting in 1931, the white frame house at 1149 SW Lincoln was the headquarters of the Topeka Association of Colored Women and Girls. Black women began organizing in the 1880s and 1890s, a time of escalating racial tension that saw the proliferation of both formal and informal racial segregation throughout America. The Kansas Association of Colored Women's Clubs was founded in 1896 and chartered in 1906. In addition to taking an interest in popular Victorian ideals of self-expression and morality, Black women who were members of clubs throughout Topeka and beyond fought for economic opportunities, political equality, and civil rights for their entire race. Black clubwomen worked to help other Black women who worked outside the home - the majority of whom were employed as domestics in this era. The women's clubs worked to establish childcare and kindergartens to help working women. In 1917, eight separate organizations were members of the Council of Colored Women’s Clubs. The African American women’s clubs were important institutions in the development of organization, unity, and leadership within the Black community.  The building was later acquired by a local organization known as The Living the Dream Foundation. Among their goals is a historic landmark designation for the building and more education about the experiences of African American women during the late 19th and early 20th century.

Topeka Council of Colored Women’s Clubs (1931)

At the time of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling in 1954, Monroe Elementary was one of four all-Black schools in Topeka. It was established on land that belonged to abolitionist John Ritchie, who welcomed freed African Americans to build homes on his property after the Civil War. The first school on this site was a rented building used from 1868 to 1874, when a larger permanent structure was built. The Topeka Board of Education purchased the school after Ritchie’s death in 1877. The school building visitors see at Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site today was built in 1926 and designed by local architect Thomas W. Williamson. The story of Monroe Elementary and its connection to the landmark Brown v. Board decision holds both local and national significance, which reveal the complex nature of segregation and race in the United States. From the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, segregation permeated American society. Laws affecting segregation on the city, state, and national level, including the heavily restrictive Jim Crow laws of the South, were justified by the Supreme Court’s Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which declared segregation constitutional as long as facilities for Blacks and whites were “separate but equal” in quality. Underlying these laws were entrenched racial prejudices and hostility toward Blacks and other people of color. Segregation laws controlled various aspects of African American life, including where they could live, enter buildings, sit in public spaces, use public facilities, and attend schools. Plessy v. Ferguson’s “separate but equal” doctrine upheld school segregation into the 1950s, claiming separate schools were constitutional as long as they were equal. In reality, however, Black public schools were deeply underfunded, lacking basic resources such as buildings and textbooks. This meant that schools were not only deprived of tangible resources but also the opportunity to enrich young minds. In response, African American communities were forced to raise their own funds to build schools. Philanthropic projects such as Rosenwald Schools, Black schools organized by Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald, also offered an alternative to public schools. By the 1950s, most states had laws that dictated whether schools were segregated or not. All southern states required school segregation, though a number of court cases in the early twentieth century granted persons of color admission to white schools. In Kansas, school segregation was not mandated, but an 1879 state law did permit segregation in certain cities like Topeka. Monroe Elementary and the three other Black schools, Buchanan, McKinley, and Washington, were constructed in the late 1920s as part of a larger effort to revamp the Topeka public school system in light of a rapidly growing student population. This meant that unlike most segregated school systems, Topeka’s new facilities actually were “separate but equal." Topeka attempted to integrate their schools in the 1930s and 1940s, resulting in court rulings and school board decisions that junior high schools would desegregate while elementary schools like Monroe would remain “separate but equal.” African Americans in the city were split over segregation; some parents and teachers argued the children were receiving quality educations at the Black schools and benefited from being in a Black community, while others, especially members of the Topeka NAACP, argued integration was necessary for equality. In 1950, the Topeka NAACP joined forces with thirteen Black parents to challenge these segregated schools. The parents attempted to enroll their children in their neighborhood schools but were refused. In turn, the parents filed a lawsuit against the Topeka Board of Education. Oliver L. Brown, a local minister whose daughter attended Monroe Elementary, was named the lead plaintiff in the case. The case made it to the Supreme Court, where it was combined with four other NAACP-sponsored cases from Delaware, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Thurgood Marshall, director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, served as chief council. As the case was heard in D.C., the public schools of Topeka began gradually desegregating in September 1953 before the landmark ruling.On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that it was unconstitutional to segregate schools, effectively overturning the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision. The ruling was a major step in the long march toward equality. Still, it would take time and a great deal of struggle for schools to integrate. Some criticized the Brown v. Board decision as an assault on the states’ rights to coordinate their own school systems. Governors, school boards, and members of the public resisted integration by shutting down schools, protesting, and making it difficult for Black students to enter all-white schools; the hostility toward nine Black students admitted to Little Rock Central High School epitomizes this resistance to integration. Subsequent laws, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and court decisions continued to dismantle the structure of segregation within American society. In fact, some schools have remained segregated into the new millennium, such as a school in Mississippi that was ordered to integrate in 2015, fifty years after a case was filed in 1964. Despite its connection to Brown v. Board, Monroe Elementary has only recently gained national recognition as a place of historical significance. The school closed in 1975 and passed through several hands until 1990 when it went up for auction. The Brown Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to remembering the history of Brown v. Board, informed the owner of its significance and began planning a way to acquire the site. It was an important moment, as one of the other original schools had been demolished and the other two were, and still are, in private hands. The Brown Foundation connected with preservation groups and the National Park Service, which assessed the site and designated it a National Historic Landmark in 1991. The designation acknowledged the site’s national significance but did not establish it as a National Park. This required passing legislation through Congress, which was approved in 1992 and signed by President George Bush as Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site.Guided tours are given daily from 9:00-5:00 excluding major holidays. This site hosts many special events, exhibits, and educational programs. They also host several special events during February in honor of African American History month. For more information and details on planning a trip, check the first website listed below or call 1-785-354-4273.

Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site commemorates the history of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and violated the equality of citizens under the 14th Amendment. Members of the local NAACP and thirteen parents representing twenty children filed the lawsuit against the Topeka Board of Education in 1951. Some of these children attended Monroe Elementary, one of the four Black schools at the time. Monroe Elementary is now the headquarters National Historic Site, established in 1992. As part of the National Park Service, the site offers programs and exhibits that explore the legal and social history of Brown v. Board.

Monroe Elementary, Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site

The Brown v. Board mural sits across the street from the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site and commemorates the landmark Supreme Court case which ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.The idea for the mural was first conceived by Sarah Fizell, executive director of ARTSConnect, a Topeka non-profit that develops programs and activities to support the creation of art. Fizell shared her idea with National Historic Site and Michael Toombs, a Kansas City based artist and art educator. The mural was a collaborative work, spearheaded Toombs and executed by the Living Dream youth artists and community members. Larry Hill, owner of the Hill Co. plumbing supply building across the street from the historic site, donated the side of his family owned business for the project.Eye-catching motifs painted in brilliant colors permeate the large 130' x 30' wall. Toward the center of the mural are two small children holding hands walking toward the horizon between a pair of open hands and the phrases "And the children shall lead” and “A New Day.” Other motifs include portraits of notable figures who championed civil and human rights including Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. Gandhi, Winnie Mandela, Cesar Chavez, and Thurgood Marshall, the attorney for the plaintiff of the Brown v. Board case and later the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.Images of two schools also appear in the mural. On the left is the Monroe Elementary School for African American Students (the school at the heart of the Brown v. Board case) and on the right is Sumner Elementary School (a school that was originally only for white students). In 1950, Linda Brown attempted to enroll at Sumner Elementary because it was closer to her home. Brown’s application, along with those of 19 other students, was rejected by the Topeka Board of Education. In 1951 the Topeka NAACP joined a national class-action lawsuit that was eventually named after Linda Brown’s father, Oliver.Mural TeamC. Dylan Barker, Blake Benton, Hector A. Bernal, Jordan E. Brooks, Cathy Burchett, Robert Tapley Bustamante, Alessandra Chavez, Daisy Escamilla, Estefana Garcia, Xavier Gayden, Jason Hanna, Dar Hosseini, Bryan Kincade, Christina Klein-Tross, Felix Maull, B.J. McBride, Oshara Meesha, Sara Myer, Justin Newhouse, Andrea Nix, Asha Rae Slack, Timothy Steward, Michael Toombs, Chloe Thompson, Lois Visser-Ulrich, Eric Underwood, Andy Valdivia, Yesenia Villarreal, Jandy Wills, Woody Woodward, Diane WurzerStudent ArtistsLillyan Adkins, Karlyn Bowman, Adyson Cashman, Lemi Del Real, Kate Eckert, Gavin Grady, Adriania Havens, Erica Knight, Camp LeDuc, Mackenzie Miles, Brianna Pledger, Skylar Pokphanh, Alexandria Poling, Jalec Rodriguez, Levi Shows, Alejandra Solis, Am'agyn Spencer, Hayley Woodyard

Across the street from the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site is a new mural to commemorate the landmark Supreme Court case which ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. The mural, brilliant and colorful, depicts themes of diversity, equality, and justice through the eyes of a new generation.

Topeka's Black History Driving Tour

Nicholas Chiles Residence

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information