Who’s Afraid of George Walker

Who’s Afraid of George Walker? George “Nash” Walker (1872-1911) was born in the aftermath of The Civil War in Lawrence, Kansas, the launching point of John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia in the fall of 1859 and site of Quantril’s Raid in the summer of 1863. The post-Civil War demographics and abolitionist politics of the region empowered Walker in historically unprecedented ways and compelled […]

ICYMI: The Last 2 Weeks in Black Writing and Culture (3/26-4/15)

The works of female artists are being featured in a resurgence of “women’s only” or “group show” exhibitions across the country. Though the practice fell out of favor after the 1970’s and 1980’s, some curators are calling this reviving trend a “curatorial corrective,” while female artists bristle at the thought of a “one and done” mentality that will not shift the overall landscape of the […]

Lifting As We Climb Revisited: The Clubwomen of the Kansas State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs

On June 14, 1916, Mrs. Charles W. French of Newton, Kansas, rose from her seat during the 16th Annual Session of the Kansas State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs in Parsons, Kansas, to denounce the Jim Crow laws in the host city.  Mrs. French stated that “[the women], regardless of color be admitted to theatres, and that some step be taken to investigate the reason […]