Small Kansas town with big history tells story of former slaves in a new way

An often-overlooked chapter in African American history — former slaves homesteading on the prairies — comes vividly to life this month in a tiny Kansas town.

These days, only about 50 people live in Nicodemus. But in the 1870s, former slaves left Kentucky to experience freedom in what some described as the “promised land” of Kansas, a free state during the Civil War.

The Nicodemus National Historic Site, which interprets the community’s history, will bring the settlers’ struggles to life July 30 when a traveling theater company rolls into town.

“Lift Every Voice: The Black Experience in the Heartland,” an original production scripted and staged by North Carolina’s Bright Star Touring Theatre, shares stories of African American history in the Sunflower State.

It will be performed at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. in the Township Hall, which also serves as the site’s visitor center.

The play is presented as part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. It begins with the homesteaders but carries on through modern civil rights struggles of the 1960s.

Rev. Simon Roundtree, the first black settler, arrived in Nicodemus in June 1877. As the historic site reveals, the preacher soon began circulating fliers inviting “Colored people of the United States” to join him in what he called “Great Solomon Valley.”

Within months, nearly 200 people joined him. A handful of the buildings they erected, including a schoolhouse and a church, are still standing, making Nicodemus the only remaining black settlement west of the Mississippi River.

It’s open 9 a.m.to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Admission is free.

Info: Nicodemus National Historic Site, 304 Washington Ave.; (785) 839-4233

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