Black Kansas City


As fur traders, explorers, and settlers moved into the Kansas City area, African Americans were among them - most, however, came as slaves. In the late 1850s, many sought freedom via the Underground Railroad, crossing the Missouri River to Quindaro, Kansas, a headquarters for free-state advocates. In the late 1870s, Exodusters, free African Americans and former slaves who moved to the Kansas Territory after the Civil War, often passed through the Kansas City area as they traveled northwest from the Deep South.

Deeply entrenched racial segregation shaped 20th century Kansas City, as did the ongoing struggle to dismantle it. Education, housing, labor, and other civil rights issues came to the forefront as African American residents fought for equality. As events of the early 21st century have shown, those struggles continue.

A study group at Garrison Square Branch Library, ca. 1915

A study group at Garrison Square Branch Library, ca. 1915

Black History Month

In partnership with the Local Investment Commission (LINC) and the Black Archives of Mid America, the Kansas City Public Library and Missouri Valley Special Collections staff have created annual poster and calendar sets to recognize Black History Month. Biographies of many notable Black residents of the Kansas City region can be downloaded and shared through the LINC website. Additional lesson planning materials regarding local Black history can be found at the project’s joint website.

The Kansas City Monarchs, 1934

The Kansas City Monarchs, 1934

John Ramos Collection

The John Ramos Collection was originally established in 1926 as the Negro History Collection at the Lincoln Branch Library, located within the all-Black Lincoln High School. Inspired by the Schomburg Collection in Harlem, New York, the collection strives to serve as a comprehensive resource for works written by and for African Americans. An endowment allows for new scholarship to be added to the collection.

Dr. John F. Ramos, Jr.

Dr. John F. Ramos, Jr.

Dr. John F. Ramos, Jr., holds the distinctions of being the first certified Black radiologist in Kansas City (1950) as well as the first Black member of the Kansas City School Board (1964). Following his death on December 28, 1970, the Negro History Collection was renamed in his memory. When the Lincoln Branch Library closed in the summer of 1967, the library transferred the collection to the Missouri Valley Special Collections department at the Main Library.

The Ramos Collection contains more than 3,500 published materials, including books, pamphlets, magazines, articles, and microfilm, dating from 1835 to the present. Among them are signed first editions and rare copies of books long out print. Also included in the collection is a set of vertical files created and kept by Lincoln Branch librarians relating to the Kansas City Black community.

Lincoln High School Cadet Band and Orchestra, 1917

Lincoln High School Cadet Band and Orchestra, 1917

Browsing Collection

The African American History and Culture Browsing Collection features resources on slavery, segregation, civil rights issues, music, sports, literature, business, and art. A portion of the collection is specific to the Black experience in Kansas City, but many titles focus on nationally-known individuals and movements. This broad coverage reflects the precedent set by the John Ramos Collection, from which some of the browsing collection is drawn.

Access

To find published materials from the Ramos Collection search for “RAMOS” or “MV-BROWSE AFR-AMER” as part of the call number in the Library Catalog.

Browse Lincoln Branch Library vertical files here.

View a topic list of Ramos Collection vertical files here.

View a list of microfilmed materials on Black history here.