Segregation In Kansas (Wichita, Kansas City, Topeka: limousine, neighborhoods, movie theater)

[AnywhereElse]

Was talking to a neighbor about my age telling him about the segregation in the south and how I had met people who attended the all black school across the street from the all white school. I was surprised to learn that at least this part of Kansas also had segregation and he remembered when blacks had to sit up in the balcony of the movie theater, etc. here. My husband says there is a foundation left in town from a totally black school that existed at one time. I was totally shocked! I spent several years in the Junction City area and never heard of anything like that there. Did this have to do with this Kansas being in the tug-of-war over being a free state or a slave state? We have Fort Scott here and my son loves going there so I learned about that battle here. I just didn't think that segregation like that had been in Kansas like in Alabama. I grew up in SW MI and I never knew about segregation running into the 70's until meeting some southern people and it just blew my mind to think of such a thing. So, does anyone know, was this segregation just limited to this SE corner?

[kansas sky]

Unfortunately not. Remember in Brown Vs Board of Education the school in question was in Topeka.

[MOKAN]

Originally Posted by AnywhereElse

Was talking to a neighbor about my age telling him about the segregation in the south and how I had met people who attended the all black school across the street from the all white school. I was surprised to learn that at least this part of Kansas also had segregation and he remembered when blacks had to sit up in the balcony of the movie theater, etc. here. My husband says there is a foundation left in town from a totally black school that existed at one time. I was totally shocked! I spent several years in the Junction City area and never heard of anything like that there. Did this have to do with this Kansas being in the tug-of-war over being a free state or a slave state? We have Fort Scott here and my son loves going there so I learned about that battle here. I just didn't think that segregation like that had been in Kansas like in Alabama. I grew up in SW MI and I never knew about segregation running into the 70's until meeting some southern people and it just blew my mind to think of such a thing. So, does anyone know, was this segregation just limited to this SE corner?

I'm not sure what school you're talking about, but if you're interested you should look up Western University. It was a black school, supposedly the first black college west of the Mississippi. It was in the Quindaro area of KCK, near the Missouri River. However, I think it was a positive being that it was in an area with a major history with the Underground Railroad, where abolitionists were ferrying blacks across the Missouri River into the free state of Kansas. There may be some ruins left, I'm not sure, but there's a statue of John Brown at the site and some information.

Also, Sumner Academy in downtown KCK was originally the all-black high school for KCK. Now it's college prep and highly ranked.

[thriftylefty]

Some of schools that were part of the Brown V Board of Ed were located in South East Kansas.

[ohazco]

To be more blunt than the other posters, this should not come as a surprise as the court case that challenged and subsequently ended segregation, Brown vs. Board of Education, arose out of Kansas. Read more with a simple google search of the case.

Brown v. Board of Education - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Sco]

Originally Posted by ohazco

To be more blunt than the other posters, this should not come as a surprise as the court case that challenged and subsequently ended segregation, Brown vs. Board of Education, arose out of Kansas. Read more with a simple google search of the case.

Brown v. Board of Education - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am surprised at the number of people that aren't aware of the Kansas connection to that sad time in our nation's history. I know that even after that decision it still took forced busing to bring some cities such as Wichita into compliance.

[MOKAN]

Originally Posted by Sco

I am surprised at the number of people that aren't aware of the Kansas connection to that sad time in our nation's history. I know that even after that decision it still took forced busing to bring some cities such as Wichita into compliance.

Desegregation was fine. The forced bussing and tearing apart of the neighborhood school system is questionable. If it weren't for the forced bussing, some of the most downtrodden school districts and city neighborhoods might not be as bad and segregated as they are today. See: Kansas City, MO.

[GrandviewGloria]

I have news. The South did not have the market cornered on segregation. The 'Colored' orphanage that got burned down by Irish immigrants was in NEW YORK.

The biggest Ku Klux Klan organizations of the early Twentieth Century were in states outside the South. Today, the Limousine Liberals in the North live in lily white enclaves, and send their kids to private schools where the only blacks are some hand-picked 'good ones'. The South was (and is) scapegoated, to divert attention from the enclaves of the wealthy and powerful.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by GrandviewGloria

I have news. The South did not have the market cornered on segregation. The 'Colored' orphanage that got burned down by Irish immigrants was in NEW YORK.

The biggest Ku Klux Klan organizations of the early Twentieth Century were in states outside the South. Today, the Limousine Liberals in the North live in lily white enclaves, and send their kids to private schools where the only blacks are some hand-picked 'good ones'. The South was (and is) scapegoated, to divert attention from the enclaves of the wealthy and powerful.

"Limousine Liberals," now that is laughable. You must have forgotten that many states have a large majority of white residents that are middle class. I can think of most of Maine, New Hampshire, upstate New York, rural Pennslyvania, rural Ohio, etc. Most of these regions were rural and "never experinced" huge levels of in-migration or immigration over time due less economic growth. Most residents there send kids to public schools and are certainly not wealthy enclaves by any stretch of the imagination. Most of these areas are democratic voting with moderates and independents often being a plurality. Please don't get "brainwashed" by the media.

[Dood912]

GrandviewGloria your victim mentality is showing.