An All-Black Town Rises
by: Dr. Clint Wilson
Within a few years after the Civil War, many newly freed slaves and freemen moved west to recently opened territories like Kansas. Small enclaves of Black people soon grew into full-fledged communities where people could make a living by farming or practicing a trade.
Not surprisingly, these towns often had a weekly newspaper serving the information, social and economic needs of its Black constituents. One such place was the town of Nicodemus, Kansas which was founded in 1877. On what was apparently the town's 10th anniversary year, The Western Cyclone of Nicodemus observed the occasion by publishing in two consecutive issues, a brief history of the town for posterity and for newcomers who had settled there in intervening years.
The following articles illustrate the vital role played by the Black Press in helping create a sense of community among Blacks living in a unique American setting - a need still extant more than a century later.
APRIL 21
"Nicodemus was first plotted as a government town site June 8, 1877, by the Nicodemus Colony, an organization formed at Topeka that year with W. H. Smith as president; S. P. Rountree, secretary; Z. T. Fletcher, Corresponding secretary and postmaster. In 1878, J. W. Niles was chosen president and Ex-State Auditor McCabe secretary. . .
The first free-to-all fight in the town was between Rev. John Anderson and Deacon Joseph Jones in an argument over scripture.
In '78 there were between 600 and 700 people on ...
"I have never worked to be well-liked or well-loved, but only to be respected. I have fought a problem the only way I know how. Maybe it was right or wrong in the approach, but a man can only ultimately be counted...
1990 - Ralph Abernathy of SCLC Dies
Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, a pioneer in the civil rights movement and a close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who he succeeded as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), died last ...
