Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Black History Month 2010 @ WSNS: Nicodemus National Historic Site

For Black History Month 2010, I am going to try to post on a number of different African American historic places that I think the readers of this blog might find interesting (and they are places that I've either visited or know a little something about). I mean I didn't work with African American historic places for almost three years (and postponing my history PhD program) just for my own self edification.

I think that one of the most underrated chapters in black history is the westward movement of African Americans following the Civil War. Though the majority of black folks stayed put in the South and went through the triumphs and tragedies of Reconstruction, there were thousands of black folks who packed their bags and their dreams for a new life and headed West.

Exodusters, as they were eventually known, aren't as well known as they should be. It's become shorthand for the black folks who settled primarily in Kansas in all black communities in the 1870s/1880s. Luckily, we have the Nicodemus National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service, available to help us understand precisely what the town's settlers experienced. And I've had the privilege of meeting an actual descendant of one of the founders of Nicodemus, and this descendant played an instrumental role in obtaining that National Historic Site designation for her community.

When you have a chance, please check out the different links. I think it will be well worth your while, if only to learn something new about black folks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Was out in Seattle a few years ago, and saw the new home of the Northwest African American Museum. Talk about leaving the south behind!

For four hundred years African American history has been a part of U.S. history, not just in February. I'm just sayin'...