Nicodemus National Historic Site
Bogue, Kansas
African-American community created after the Civil War.
Nicodemus National Historic Site is the only remaining western town established by African Americans during the Reconstruction Period after the Civil War. Led by legendary former slave Benjamin “Pap” Singleton, Nicodemus was created in 1877 along with two other communities on land designated for homesteaders – known as “Exodusters” – willing to move to Kansas.
Nicodemus is symbolic of the pioneer spirit of African Americans who dared to leave the only region they had been familiar with to seek personal freedom and opportunity. The historic site contains five buildings including several churches, a former hotel and schoolhouse.
At Fort Leavenworth near Kansas City is the Richard Allen Cultural Center at Buffalo Soldiers Park. Dedicated in 1992, the park commemorates the formation of several Black infantry and cavalry units after the Civil War. The Martin and Osa-Johnson Safari Museum is located in Chanute, which features a wide variety of West African tribal art.
Kansas is also the site of Osawatomie, an abolitionist community and the center of conflict during “Bleeding Kansas.” The Adair cabin, a station on the Underground Railroad, survived the Battle of Osawatomie where abolitionist John Brown and 30 free-state defenders fought 250 proslavery militia in 1856. The John Brown Museum tells the story of the anti-slavery movement in this important border state leading up to the Civil War, starting with the attack in 1959 on Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia.