African-American

Historical documents, audio interviews and artifacts will be on display at Wichita State University's Ablah Library on Sunday as part of the Wichita African American Business History Project.

Between 2011 and 2014, WSU professor Robert Weems recorded dozens of interviews and collected historical artifacts to tell the story of a cross-section of prominent black business owners in Wichita. Weems says black businesses were an integral part of the black community.

A pastor in northeast Wichita is offering a Black History Video Series and community discussion every 3rd Sunday in Wichita.

The idea to show videos and discuss African-American leaders stemmed from an incident at a public school on the East Coast. Godfrey Patterson, pastor of Wichita’s St. Paul AME Church, says a student there could not tell the teacher the name of the late civil rights leader Malcolm X.

It’s reported that less than half of the 2.5-million African American soldiers who registered for the armed forces at the beginning of World War II were called to serve. Those who were enlisted found that as they served their country abroad, they still faced less than a democratic reception at home.

The Pittsburgh Courier, one of the most widely circulated African-American newspapers of its time, received a humble, patriotic, but assertive letter to the editor in 1942. It was penned by 26 year-old African American James G. Thompson of Wichita.

Since his arrival on campus in 2011, Wichita State University history professor Robert Weems, Jr. has been busy researching the history of African-American businesses in Wichita.

Weems, a Chicago native, has a longstanding interest in this area.

A two-day workshop in Wichita will offer skills on how to email, text, tweet and post on Facebook. The workshop is designed to build intergenerational bonds around African-American culture and technology.

The Digital Elder Project is a traveling, leadership and professional development retreat that teaches digital techniques. Shani Byard, founder and director of the Los Angeles-based, Message Media Ed - School of Black Leadership in the Digital Age, will facilitate the workshop. 

Dozens took part in a lecture Wednesday on African-American newspapers and communities in Kansas at the Wichita Public Library downtown.

Historian Aleen Ratzlaff, professor of communications at Tabor College in Hillsboro, says Kansas has a rich history of newspapers that were owned and published by African-Americans and targeted to black readers.

"The emphasis has been on mainstream newspapers, but there were vital publications that were part of the African-American community as well as other ethic communities," he says.