Address to the Voters of Kansas
Creator: Pomeroy, S. C. (Samuel Clarke), 1816-1891
Date: September 25, 1867
The numerous authors of this pamphlet (Republicans) support the constitutional amendments to approve voting rights for blacks, for women, and to restrict voting rights to "loyal persons." They offer arguments for their position as well as criticizing the Democratic Party in Kansas for their opposition to these amendments. Forty five men signed the document, which was the result of a meeting in Lawrence. The following signed the document S. C. Pomeroy, Atchison; E. G. Ross, Lawrence; S. J. Crawford, Topeka; N. Green, Manhattan; Chas. Robinson, Lawrence; Geo T. Anthony, Leavenworth; Lewis Bodwell, Topeka; R. B. Taylor, editor Wyandotte Gazette; J. P. Root, Whandotte; James Rogers, Burlingame; S. Weaver, Editor Lecompton New Era; L. R. Elliott, Editor Atchison Daily Free Press; W. A. Starrett, Lawrence; Wm. Larimer, Jr., Leavenworth; John Ritchie, Topeka; John Ekin, Topeka; Sol. Miller, Editor White Cloud Chief; A. H. Foote, Lawrence; C. B. Lines, Wabaunsee; R. G. Elliott, Jefferson county; G. A. Crawford, Bourbon county; John Speer, Kansas Tribune; A. Low, Doniphan; R. W. Jenkins, Pottawatomie county; Ed. Russell, Leavenworth; J. H. Pillsbury, Editor Manhattan Independent; S. D. Houston, Manhattan; W. K. Marshall, Atchison; F. G. Adams, Kennekuk; P. L. Hubbard, Atchison; A. Hunting, Manhattan; J. B. Abbott, De Soto; Joseph Denison, Manhattan; T. H. Baker, Manhattan, H. W. Farnsworth, Topeka; I. H. Smith, Topeka; D. R. Anthony, Leavenworth; G. W. Higginbotham, Manhattan; John Pipher, Manhattan, R. L. Harford, Manhattan; Jas. Humphrey, Manhattan; Wm McKay, Manhattan; R. P. Duvall, Manhattan; Pardee Butler, Pardee; and L. F. Green, Baldwin City. Only the language restricting voting to "loyal" persons was passed in the election on November 5, 1867. Blacks and women were not given voting rights as a result of the 1867 election.

An act to repeal all poll tax laws in the state of Kansas
Creator: House of Representatives
Date: January 1913
This act was created by the Kansas House of Representatives in an attempt to do away with any poll taxing which required Kansas voters to pay a small fee before being able to cast their ballot. Poll taxing affected people of all races in Kansas. This act was not passed. Poll taxing continued in Kansas until the early 1960s when a federal amendment was passed which made poll taxing unconstitutional in all states.

A petition on Negro suffrage
Date: 1867
This petition by an unknown group of Kansas residents asks the state legislature to support suffrage for black males. The petitioners support removing the word "white" from articles five and eight of the state constitution. At that time the Kansas constitution limited suffrage to white males. The petition outlines six reasons why suffrage should be extended to black males. In 1867, the state legislature approved an amendment supporting black male suffrage but white male voters defeated the amendment in a public referendum. Voters also defeated a similar amendment supporting white, female suffrage. These proposed amendments followed the Kansas legislature's ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, which defined who were citizens, including Negroes.

Blanche Ketene Bruce for auditor
Creator: Topeka Daily Capital
Date: October 26, 1892
According to this article from the Topeka Daily Capital, B. K. (Blanche Ketene) Bruce Jr. was given a place on the Republican ticket and ran for state auditor in 1892. Bruce, a black man from Leavenworth, became the first African American to graduate from Kansas State University in 1885. One important reason Bruce was considered to be such a good candidate for the position of state auditor, was because he was a black Republican in every sense of the word. Between the years of 1880-1900 blacks felt their political interests did not differ too greatly from white political interest or well being. African American males were placed on political party tickets and ran successfully for elective offices in Kansas during this time.

Championship of Woman
Creator: Train, George Francis, 1829-1904
Date: 1867
This pamphlet contains excerpts from and/or newspaper accounts of thirty speeches that George Francis Train, a supporter of women's rights, gave in Kansas over a two week period in October and November of 1867. Train came to Kansas after participating in an excursion to the Rocky Mountains with approximately 200 newspapermen to hunt buffalo. Numerous Kansas women's suffrage supporters are mentioned in the booklet. Train gave speeches in Leavenworth, Lawrence, Olathe, Paola, Ottawa, Mound City, Fort Scott, LeRoy, Humboldt, Burlington, Emporia, Junction City, Topeka, Atchison, Wyandotte, and possibly other communities. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were also campaigning in Kansas and shared the podium and/or communicated with Train. Train was an author, speaker, and a celebrity for his eccentricity.

Charles Langston to Samuel Wood
Creator: Langston, Charles
Date: April 7, 1867
Charles Langston, Leavenworth, Kansas, wrote this letter to Samuel Wood, Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, in response to a letter Wood had written him on April 4, 1867, concerning a suffrage convention in Topeka. Langston was unable to attend and felt misrepresented. Wood claimed Langston thought supporters of female suffrage opposed Negro suffrage, which was not the case. Langston went on to explain that he needed Wood's financial help to secure black male voting rights. Enclosed at the end of the letter is a petition from the State Executive Committee of Colored Men. This proposition asked for two things; a vote in the fall election to remove the word white from the state constitution and funds to further the black male suffrage cause. The vote to remove the word white did not pass in the fall of 1867. Black men had to wait three more years before they received their right to vote in Kansas elections. Charles Langston later served as the principal of the Normal School--Colored in Quindaro, Kansas.

Charles Langston to Samuel Wood
Creator: Langston, Charles
Date: June 20, 1867
This letter was written to Samuel Wood from Charles Langston, the leader of the black male suffrage movement in Kansas. Langston addressed two issues; removing the word white from the Kansas Constitution and women's suffrage. The word white prohibited black males from voting in Kansas leaving them powerless. Although Langston did support women's suffrage, he felt their movement was hampering the progress of black male suffrage. Therefore, he was not going to speak on the issue of women's suffrage. Like many Kansans during this time, Langston thought women should wait their turn for their right to vote. Samuel Wood was an influential politician and a supporter of women's suffrage but not black male suffrage. Black men were unable to vote in Kansas until the passing of the fifteenth amendment in 1870.

Charles W. Waddell to Governor George Hodges
Creator: Waddell, Charlis, W
Date: June 28, 1914
This letter from Charles W. Waddell was sent to Governor George Hodges to express his thoughts on the possible passage of a Jim Crow law in Kansas. Waddell, a Wisconsin resident and a supporter of Jim Crow, claimed that if the people of Kansas understood who the Negro was, then the law would pass with little opposition. In Waddell's letter he suggests that Governor Hodges supports the passing of the Jim Crow law. Hodges had made a speech to the Kansas House of Representatives in January of 1913 publicly discouraging the passing of any Jim Crow laws in Kansas. The Jim Crow law did not pass. Blacks in Kansas did experience discrimination from Jim Crow laws such as poll taxing and segregated elementary schools. Jim Crow laws were not officially outlawed nationwide until the mid to late 1960s.

Circular of the State Impartial Suffrage Association
Date: 1867
This circular describes the efforts to secure suffrage for blacks and women in the state of Kansas. The flyer indicates the Henry B. Blackwell of New York and Mrs. Lucy Stone were traveling in Kansas at that time. The Association was being organized in 1867. S. N. Wood was the corresponding secretary for the association. There is a hand written note on the back from H. C. Whitney, Lawrence, Kansas, indicating his willingness to speak for the group.

Colored people of Topeka to Governor Samuel J. Crawford
Creator: Colored People of Topeka (Kan.)
Date: February 25, 1867
Black residents of Topeka submitted a resolution to Governor Samuel J. Crawford concerning impartial suffrage. The resolution expresses the residents' gratitude to the legislature and the governor for their support of an amendment to the state constitution on impartial suffrage. Propositions put before the voters proposing to strike the words "white" and "male" from the state constitution were ultimately defeated. The proposed amendments followed Governor Crawford's submission of the proposed Article XIV of the United States Constitution to the Kansas Legislature for ratification. The Fourteenth Amendment defined U.S. citizenship and compelled Confederate states to adopt impartial (male) suffrage.

Concurrent resolution amending the constitution of the state of Kansas
Creator: Kansas. Legislature
Date: February 18, 1867
This resolution by the Kansas state legislature calls for an election on an amendment to the state constitution supporting black male suffrage. If approved by the white male voters, the word "white" would be removed from the state constitution, particularly section one of article five, thereby allowing black males to vote. This amendment to the Kansas constitution was defeated. The issue became moot in 1870 with the ratification of the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which made it illegal to deny a citizen the right to vote because of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

Governor Fred Hall to Earl Reynolds
Creator: Hall, Frederick Lee, 1916-1970
Date: February 28, 1955
Governor Fred Hall responded to a letter he had received from Earl Reynolds regarding black representation in and by the Republican Party in Kansas. Reynolds felt black representation was lacking, especially in the third district. Governor Hall, surprised by Reynolds's comments, assured Reynolds that blacks had received an "unusual amount of consideration" during his term as Governor. Although Governor Hall did realize blacks were not represented adequately in the third district he felt that particular issue should be addressed at the local level, not the state level. Concerns with black equality and suffrage were not just southern issues. Nationwide attention at this time was beginning to focus on black equality, particularly on black voting rights, equal representation in political parties and elections.

Leavenworth Constitution
Creator: Kansas. Constitutional Convention (1858)
Date: April 3, 1858
This is the text of the Leavenworth Constitution as published in Daniel W. Wilder's "The Annals of Kansas" (1886). The Leavenworth Constitution was the most radical of the four constitutions drafted for Kansas Territory. The Bill of Rights refers to "all men" and prohibited slavery from the state. The word "white" did not appear in the proposed document and, therefore, it would not have excluded free blacks from the state. Article XVI, Section 3 (p. 227) directed the general assembly to provide some protection for the rights of women. The Leavenworth Constitution was ratified on May 18, 1858, but the U.S. Senate did not act to approve the document.

Leavenworth Constitutional Convention journal
Date: March 31, 1858
During the course of the convention's business on Wednesday, March 31, 1858, the delegates took up the article on "elective Franchise reported back from Committee on Phraseology." Samuel N. Wood's motion "to strike out the word 'male'" failed, 21 to 35, but interestingly, the yeas and nays were recorded. The votes for the unsuccessful effort to insert the word "white" were also recorded.

Mark W. W. Baldwin to Governor Andrew Schoeppel
Creator: Baldwin, Mark W. W.
Date: June 4, 1944
Mark W. W. Baldwin writes to Kansas Governor Andrew Schoeppel This newspaper article, attached to a letter written to Governor Schoeppel, refers to the upcoming of election of 1944 in which Roosevelt won his fourth term as president. The article acknowledges that throughout the depression and early 1940s African Americans voted for Roosevelt despite the fact that he was a Democrat. Republicans, ashamed they had lost the black vote in previous elections, were trying very hard to get it back. In past elections, African Americans tended to vote as a group which made them one of the most important racial voting groups in the country. The black vote in the 1944 election was very influential in reelecting Roosevelt to his fourth term as president, making him the only president to ever serve more than two consecutive terms.

Mrs. G. Monroe to Governor John Martin
Creator: Monroe, Mrs. G.
Date: February 11, 1887
Mrs. G. Monroe, of Topeka, Kansas, writes Governor John Martin, also of Topeka, requesting he veto a bill that would give women equal suffrage in municipal elections. Monroe claims women do not want additional rights and suggests that women should not participate in political affairs. The author claims to speak for thousands of women, and states that [white] women do not want to vote with women of other races. Women in Kansas appear to have overwhelmingly supported the bill and Governor Martin did sign it. Women did not achieve full suffrage in Kansas until 1912. As this letter demonstrates, many people considered women's suffrage in light of issues of race, immigration, and prohibition. See Frances Elizabeth Willard to Governor John Martin, March 13, 1888.

Proceedings of the First Anniversary
Creator: American Equal Rights Association
Date: May 9-10, 1867
This meeting of the American Equal Rights Association was held at the Church of the Puritans, New York City on May 9-10, 1867. The organization supported voting rights and citizenship for African Americans and women. The pamphlet contains the "call" for the meeting issued on March 12, 1867, by officers of the association including Lucretia Mott, president; Susan B. Anthony, corresponding secretary; and Henry B. Blackwell, recording secretary

Secretary to the Governor to A. S. Wilson
Date: January 25, 1919
This is a letter from Governor Henry J. Allen's secretary to Mr. A.S. Wilson about segregation in cities of the second class.

Victory Wright to Dr. Price
Creator: Wright, Victory
Date: November 11, 1942
Victory Wright, the corresponding secretary for the Kansas Association of Colored Women, wrote this letter to Dr. Price asking to be paid for services she provided for the Republican Party during the campaign of 1942. Wright mailed cards and handed out flyers to help ensure the Republican victory.

We stand for
Creator: The Farmer's Wife
Date: August 1891
In this brief clipping the publishers of this Populist newspaper, Ira and Emma Pack, list the main beliefs of the Populist movement. They began publishing The Farmer's Wife in 1891, using it as a forum to discuss reform movements (including populism and women's suffrage), to present human interest stories, and to offer practical advice to Kansas women.

What the Rebels of the South Threaten to Do
Creator: Topeka Colored Citizen
Date: December 21, 1878
This article in the Topeka Colored Citizen argues that, while many Northerners believed that the Civil War had ended, Southerners continued to deny blacks their rights. It also includes an excerpt from some newspapers in Mississippi that discuss this matter; one even states that "blacks have no right under the sun to vote."

Why the Republicans Squeal
Creator: Wyandotte Gazette
Date: October 31, 1879
This article in the Wyandotte Gazette responds to the Kansas Democrat's claim that Republicans want to disfranchise black voters. According to the unnamed author of this Republican newspaper, Southern whites have disfranchised blacks, while Republicans are making good on their pledge to aid freed slaves. The article also refers to the "three-fifths" clause in the U.S. Constitution. The Kansas Democrat was published in Topeka, Shawnee County.

William Reynolds vs. The Board of Education of the City of Topeka, mandamuses
Creator: Burch, Rousseau Angelus, 1862-1944
Date: March 1903
Original proceedings in mandamus, writ denied, opinion of the Kansas State Supreme Court was written by Justice Burch. William Reynolds, the plaintiff, was a resident of Lowman Hill school district and the father of Raoul Reynolds, an eight-year-old student who had attended a desegregated school in the district until the building was destroyed by fire. A new and modern brick building, Lowman School, was constructed; however, it was designated for white students and black students were forced to attend an older and undesirable building, Douglass School. In February 1902, William Reynolds brought his son to Lowman School for enrollment, but the principal refused because the child was of African descent. Mr. Reynolds was directed to enroll his son in Douglass School designated for black students. The plaintiff accused the Board of Education of violating the Constitution of the State of Kansas and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Reynolds demanded that his son be admitted to Lowman School, to be taught without regard to his race or color, and to be treated in all respects as a white child.