A champion of education and literacy, Dr. Jeremiah Cameron dedicated his life to a teaching career that spanned nearly 50 years.
Cameron was born in the 18th and Highland block of Kansas City’s east side, where he first attended school at Attucks Elementary.
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Kansas City native Frank Lee Duncan Jr. was a standout player and manager in baseball’s Negro Leagues from 1920-1948.
The only child of Frank and Elizabeth Duncan, Frank Jr. grew up playing sandlot baseball with other youths, including future Negro Leagues teammates Newt Allen and Rube Curry, in his east side neighborhood near Parade Park.
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Dr. Julia Hill was a civil rights advocate dedicated to advancing educational equity and social justice. Though Hill spent most of her life in Kansas City, she periodically departed to pursue educational opportunities.
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Henry Ossawa Tanner is recognized as the first African American artist to gain international fame. During his career, he deftly combined the painting styles of predominantly white academic artists with those of the thriving Black artistic communities of Kansas City.
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Anne Thomas was a teacher, counselor, and tireless advocate for civil and human rights, both locally and internationally. Born Anne Jenkins in Denver, Colorado, she pursued a career in education and social work.
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Claude "Fiddler" Williams didn’t start playing the violin until he had mastered several other instruments, including the guitar, mandolin, banjo, cello, and bass. By age 10, he was already performing with his brother-in-law’s string band.
The son of former slaves, Samuel W. Bacote in 1895 became pastor of Second Baptist Church, one of Kansas City’s oldest and largest African American congregations.
An actress and singer closely identified with the role of Bess in the opera Porgy and Bess, Etta Moten Barnett was born in Texas and studied music and drama at Western University in Kansas City, Kansas.
The musician most closely associated with Kansas City jazz, pianist and bandleader William Basie was born in New Jersey and came to Kansas City in the late 1920s.
Tom Bass broke down color barriers as a world-class equestrian and trainer of show
horses over a career that spanned half a century.
As a renowned lecturer, clubwoman, and suffragist, Ida Bowman Becks led the local African American community in the pursuit of equality.
For more than two decades in the Missouri State Legislature as a Democratic representative, Mary Groves Bland was an advocate for the rights of minorities and a champion of equality and social justice.
One of Kansas City’s best-known Black businessmen, G. Lawrence Blankinship Sr. was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1913 and moved to Kansas City as a teenager.
Sumner High School English teacher Rebecca L. Bloodworth was born in Bethpage, Tennessee, received her bachelor’s degree from Atlanta University, and earned a master’s in English from Columbia University.
Bluford served as editor of The Kansas City Call for nearly 50 years and played an important role in the major civil rights battles of the 20th century.
A while back, while I was searching for material for the memoir I was preparing, I ran across an article I had written for The Kansas City Call, the Black weekly newspaper, at the request of the late Miss Lucile Bluford, managing editor.
Longtime teacher and administrator Girard T. Bryant was the first African American to serve as president of Penn Valley Community College in Kansas City, Missouri.
Andrew "Skip" Carter’s fascination with radio started early. Raised in Savannah, Georgia, he built his first radio set at age 14.
A child of the Great Depression, Vincent O. Carter was thankful for the comfortable upbringing his parents provided and devoted himself to the written word.
Black history is American history. It is baked into the foundation of our country so thoroughly that it is impossible to escape its influence today.