Exodusters

Introduction to the Exodusters

The only Kansas history class I ever took was over 50 years ago in the seventh grade for only nine weeks. Nothing was offered in high school, and I chose not to take anything in college. My first knowledge about the Exodusters came when Kansas history was placed on the state social studies assessments. Teachers scrambled to find information to use in the classroom. I was amazed I had heard nothing about this large population’s arrival and residence in Kansas. My students were interested as well.

Although I grew up in the turbulent ‘60’s, I was isolated from the Civil Rights movement and the protests. I grew up thinking race riots were in cities and other states, but not in Kansas. Yet with research I discovered Kansas was on the cusp of Civil Rights. Beginning with the arrival of nearly 40,000 Exodusters, to Brown v Board of Education of Topeka Kansas, to the Kansan President Dwight Eisenhower demanding the Little Rock High School integrate, Kansas has been involved with Civil Rights for over 150 years.