Nicodemus article
Date: September 2, 1886
This untitled article from the Nicodemus Western Cyclone newspaper outlines how the residents of Nicodemus were building comfortable homes and persevering through hardship. The settlement in Nicodemus had been established by black Exodusters in 1877, and is today the only surviving all-black Exoduster town west of the Mississippi. Presently, the town is a historic site administered by the National Parks Service.

Exodusters at Floral Hall, Topeka
Creator: Worrall, Henry, 1825-1902
Date: July 5, 1879
This drawing from Harper's Weekly depicts the African-American refugees, called Exodusters, who were housed in Floral Hall on the Topeka Fairgrounds, near what is today the Expocentre. Many of these refugees are listening to a sermon or lecture being delivered on the platform. It was drawn by Henry Worrall.

Nicodemus, Kansas
Date: 1885
This photograph captures the bustling main street in Nicodemus, Graham County, a settlement founded by Exodusters in 1877. It includes a number of townspeople and the Williams Mercantile store. The building on the far left is believed to be the First Baptist Church. The new First Baptist Church was built in 1907 around this church; once the new building was completed, Nicodemus residents demolished the original church. The new building is now part of the National Parks Service historic site.

Monroe School in Topeka, Kansas
Creator: Wolfe, Harold B., 1898-1966
Date: Between 1927 and 1929
Monroe Elementary, completed in 1927, was one of four segregated black schools operating in Topeka. In 1951 a student of Monroe, Linda Brown, and her father, Oliver Brown, became plaintiffs in a legal battle over racial segregation. The case reached the Supreme Court, where it gained the name Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In 1954 the Supreme Court determined that the segregation of schools was unconstitutional. In 1992 the Monroe School was designated a National Historic Landmark. Now it is a National Parks Service site committed to educating the public about this landmark case in the struggle for civil rights.

Exodusters in Floral Hall, Topeka
Creator: Worrall, Henry, 1825-1902
Date: July 5, 1879
This drawing from Harper's Weekly depicts the living quarters of the African-American Exodusters housed in Floral Hall on the Topeka Fairgrounds. These emigrants were crowded into this building while waiting for more permanent lodgings and employment. The drawing was created by Henry Worrall.

Second grade students at Monroe School, Topeka
Creator: Schrock, John Edward
Date: March 3, 1949
This photograph shows the second grade class of Monroe Elementary, with their teacher, Edna Vance, seated at the back of the classroom. In 1992 the Monroe School was designated a National Historic Landmark for its involvement in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka court case (1954), which determined that the racial segregation of schools was unconstitutional.

A family posed in front of their house
Date: Between 1875 and 1899
An unidentified African-American family standing in front of their house.

Dunlap Academy and Mission School, Dunlap, Kansas
Date: Between 1880 and 1899
This photograph portrays the students and teachers of the African American school in Dunlap, Morris County, Kansas. Dunlap was located in eastern Morris County and was established in May 1878. The colony was founded by Benjamin Singleton and the Tennessee Real Estate and Homestead Association. This was the last colony Singleton founded in Kansas.

District No. 1 School in Nicodemus, Kansas
Date: 1977
This is an exterior view of the District No. 1 school building in Nicodemus, Graham County, Kansas. This schoolhouse, which forms part of the National Parks Service site, was built in 1918. It was built on the site of the first school in Graham County, which had been constructed in 1887 but was later destroyed by fire. The school closed in the 1950s. Nicodemus was an Exoduster settlement in Kansas, established in 1877.