The Black Archives of Mid America in Kansas City

This one-of-a-kind attraction, located just one block west of the 18th and Vine District, boasts one of the largest collections of African-American art, memorabilia and historical materials in the region. You will also explore the histories and lifestyles of many of the most respected African-American leaders in the area. The Black Archives of Mid America was founded by Horace Peterson.

The Black Archives of Mid America boasts one of the largest collections of African-American art, memorabilia and historical materials in the nation, with special focus on black history and culture in the four-state area of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Oklahoma . Established by African American historian and folorist Horace M. Peterson III in 1974 on the second floor of the local YMCA, the collection today contains more than 31,000 items, including black art, paintings, manuscripts , photographs, personal correspondence, oral histories, and rare books. Permanent exhibits include one dedicated to Buffalo Soldiers and other Black Army units that served in the Civil War up to World War II, as well as a faithful reconstruction of a 19th century slave cabin. Located in Kansas City’s historic 18th and Vine District, a visit to the Black Archives of Mid American makes the perfect addition to a day of discovery in the downtown area.

The Mission of the Black Archives of Mid-America in Kansas City, Inc.

The mission of the Black Archives of Mid-America in Kansas City, Inc. is to collect, preserve and make available to the public materials documenting the social, economic, political and cultural histories of persons of African American descent in the central United States, with particular emphasis in the Kansas City, Missouri region. Black Archives of Mid-America is an educational resource and provides access to its collections for research, exhibition and publication to honor our community heritage and to catalyze public awareness.

Currently, you may only view the digitized collection online.

Popularity: 9% [?]

African American History and Culture House
5245 Rockhill Road, on the UMKC campus, Kansas City, MO
umkc.edu/msa/aahch

Bernard Powell Memorial Monument
Spring Valley Park, 28th St and Brooklyn Avenue
Kansas City, MO

Black Archives of Mid-America
2033 Vine Street, Kansas City, MO
blackarchives.org

Buffalo Soldiers Monument
Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas
913.682.4113
ivarea.com/cvb

Charlie Parker Memorial at 18th and Vine
18th and Vine Historic Jazz District, Kansas City, MO
816.474.8463
americanjazzmuseum.com

John Brown Statue
27th & Sewell Avenue
Kansas City, Kansas
913.321.5800
visitthedot.com

Leon M. Jordan Memorial Park
31st and Benton, Kansas City, M O

Lincoln Building
1601 E 18th St.
Kansas City, MO
Black Economic Union: 816.474.1080
beukc.org

Lucill Bluford Branch Library
Kansas City Public Library
3050 Prospect Avenue
Kansas City, MO
816.701.3482
kclibrary.org

Penn School Memorial Park
Northwest corner of Westport Rd and 43rd St
Kansas City, MO

Satchel Paige Memorial Stadium
51st and Swope Parkway
Kansas City, MO
816.784.4000

Spirit of Freedom Fountain
Southwest corner of Cleveland Avenue and Brush Creek Blvd.
Kansas City, MO

Union Cemetery
227 E 28th Terrace
Kansas City, MO
816.472.4990

Popularity: 25% [?]

Lincoln University has a rich story.  At the close of the Civil War, soldiers and officers of the 62nd United States Colored Infantry, stationed at Fort McIntosh, Texas, but composed primarily of Missourians, took steps to establish an educational institution in Jefferson City, Missouri, which they named Lincoln Institute.

They were compelled to do this because many of them had never received education as slaves.  So when they got into the military, many had learned to write their names for the first time.  If you can imagine how slavery was a way to keep you dumb and uninformed.  And even in that environment, there were Black men and women who were conscious enough to know that they should escape their slave masters to join the military so that they could gain freedom.

Sadly, some of the conscious black men and women were killed in the Civil War.  They gave their lives so that others, the ones too afraid to see a better future, could be free.  But the ones who made it, knew that after the war, they should have a plan and they knew that education must be included into that plan.

 The following stipulations were set for the school:
1. The institution shall be designed for the special benefit of the freed African-Americans; 2. It shall be located in the state of Missouri; 3. Its fundamental idea shall be to combine study and labor. Members of the 62nd Colored Infantry contributed $5,000; this was supplemented by approximately $1,400, given by the 65th Colored Infantry.

They knew that they could not setup the school themselves.  Imagine being black and rolling back into Missouri triumphant.  The southern empathizers would be quick to kill you.  So they entrusted one white man who toured with them with the money and the quest to find land to build this school. 

This goes to show you that we have to work together to make a better way. 

On January 14, 1866, Lincoln Institute was formally established under an organization committee.

By June of the same year, it incorporated and the committee became a Board of Trustees. Richard Baxter Foster, a former first lieutenant in the 62nd Infantry, was named first principal of Lincoln Institute. On September 17, 1866, the school opened its doors to the first class in an old frame building in Jefferson City. In 1869, Lincoln Institute moved to the present campus, and in 1870 it began to receive aid from the state of Missouri for teacher training. College-level work was added to the curriculum in 1877, and passage of the Normal School Law permitted Lincoln graduates to teach for life in Missouri without further examination. Lincoln Institute formally became a state institution in 1879 with the deeding of the property to the state.

Under the second Morrill Act of 1890, Lincoln became a land grant institution, and the following year industrial and agricultural courses were added to the curriculum. In 1921, the Missouri Legislature passed a bill introduced by Walthall M. Moore, the first black American to serve in that body, which changed the name from Lincoln Institute to Lincoln University and created a Board of Curators to govern the University. The North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools accredited the high school division in 1925, the teacher-training program in 1926, and the four-year college of arts and sciences in 1934.

Graduate instruction was begun in the summer session of 1940, with majors in education and history and minors in English, history, and sociology. A School of Journalism was established in February 1942. Twelve years later, the United States Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, and Lincoln University responded by opening its doors to all applicably meeting its entrance criteria.

Today, Lincoln University serves a diverse student clientèle, both residential and non-residential, engages in a variety of research projects, and offers numerous public service programs in addition to providing an array of academic programs.

Lincoln University is a historical school and monumental feat for the former slaves, Civil War heroes and men whose names, they learned to write for the first time, but names we will never know.

Popularity: 8% [?]

The Blue Room captures the spirit of Kansas City.  Jazz is apart of Kansas City’s history.  But places like the Blue Room help you experience the history and make history at the same time.  The Blue Room is apart of the American Jazz Museum and located on 18th and Vine. 

Although I have lived in Missouri and Kansas most of my life, it wasn’t until moving to Kansas City that I just saw how deep jazz runs through the veins of Kansas City and her citizens.  Jazz is the blood of Kansas City.  I know this because I was attended the annual Black Chamber of Commerce ball held in the Fall of 2006.  The Who’s Who of Black Kansas City was there.  I sat in awe at the hundreds of Black and successful business people.  They didn’t even know how special they were, to me, a child of smaller communities who had never seen a Black judge, Black lawyer, Black gas station owner, Black Marketing firm owner, Black newspaper publisher, etc.

A jazz song played while we were waiting for everyone to be seated.  And everyone’s heads started bobbing and I saw the beautiful women and their men wearing tuxes.  Mentally, it took me back to a time when it was not uncommon for black men and black women to dress this way and attend such events.  I knew right then I was reliving history and I was apart of history at the same time. 

I soon visited the Blue Room for a night out.  I went alone heading down to 18th and Vine.  I parked nearby on a side street and walked towards the Blue Room.  Speakers are outside, so you can hear the piano playing as you approach.  In fact, you could mosey on down the street and window peak into the businesses and still hear the sultry jazz music. 

But I went in and was surprised by the atmosphere.  Classy men and women, black, white, asian, hispanic sat inside.  They looked, I nodded and took my seat at the bar.  This is my kind of place.  Non somking and relaxing.  You can’t go wrong with the Blue Room.

The Blue Room is located at 1600 E. 18th Street, Kansas City, MO. Phone number: 816.474.2929.
Part of the AMerican Jazz Museum by day, the Blue Room transforms into a working jazz club at night. Top local and national musicians take the stage four nights a week in this nonsmoking venue.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Swope Park on Sundays in Kansas City is a great time for African Americans to congregate. The time is filled with great food, the finest cars, music beating everywhere, and nicely dressed men and women.
The video below shows Black Kansas City, the part that is not promoted but definitely worthwhile if you want to go to a free event and meet new people.

Swope Park is the 29th largest municipal park in the United States. It is named in honor of Colonel Thomas H. Swope, a philanthropist who donated the land to the city in 1896. In the 1,769 acres, it hosts Starlight Theatre (a 8,000+ seat outdoor theater, also the temporary home of the annual Jewel Ball), the Kansas City Zoological Park, two golf courses, ten shelter houses and a host of other things, including baseball diamonds, soccer fields, a swimming pool, and a frisbee golf course.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Kansas City is home to the American Jazz Museum and Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, both in the historic 18th & Vine Jazz district. The former museum speaks to the days when Kansas City was arguably the center of the Jazz world – it still has a fair number of jazz clubs. The latter museum speaks to the Negro Leagues baseball era before 1950, when the Kansas City Monarchs, with all-stars Satchel Paige and Buck Leonard, won a lot more than they lost. Afrocentric attractions also include the must-see Buffalo Soldiers National Monument in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; the Bruce Watkins Cultural Center, the historic Gem Theater, a landmark to the Jazz legend Charlie Parker and much more.

Kansas City has deep African American roots.  Jazz is a crucial part of the heart and soul of Kansas City.  Strong Black community leaders and elected officials represent the center core of Kansas City.

The Kansas City Convention & Visitors, the city of Kansas City, and the Black Chamber of Commerce in Kansas City concentrate all of their promotions on the 18th and Vine District.  Although nice and colorful with artifacts of the Black heritage of Kansas City, it is only one or two blocks long.  We at BlackMissouri.com are surprised and amazed that Troost and other places throughout the metro area are not promoted.  We are not natives of Kansas City so we have an outsiders perspective.  We are surprised and appalled at the lack of respect that the top officials, both black and non-black, as well as the Destination Management Organizations such as the Convention and Visitors Bureaus, who have not promoted today’s Black districts.

The Kansas City African American Guide is clearly written for either white traveler’s seeking Jazz (which began in the Black communities of KC many years ago) or for African American traveler’s who are ashamed of authentic black culture, without money but with ideas and hardworking hands that have built businesses.

A trip down Troost Avenue, you will find jamaican restaurants, beauty shops, churchs, and more.  If you really want to find out what is going on in Kansas City, throw away your African American Guide and stop inside a beauty shop or barber shop on Troost.

PR: wait…  I: wait…  L: wait…  LD: wait…  I: wait…

Popularity: 4% [?]