Junction City Juneteenth & Prairie Heritage, Inc. will host “The Nicodemus Connection to a Vice President,” a presentation and discussion by Angela Bates on Wed., May 20, 2015 at 7 p.m. at the Dorothy Bramlage Public Library, 320 W. 7th St., Junction City, Kansas. Members of the community are invited to attend the free program. Refreshments will be served. Contact the Deliliah Hamilton, 785.226.2750 or Margy Stewart, 785.539.5592 for more information. The program is made possible by the Kansas Humanities Council.
Before homesteading as free men in the African American settlement of Nicodemus, Kansas, Tom Johnson and John Samuels were enslaved by U.S. Vice President Richard M. Johnson. This presentation explores their lives on the Johnson plantation, the tragic split of their families, and their migration and settlement on the western plains of Kansas. Angela Bates is the executive director of the Nicodemus Historical Society. She presents educational programs across the nation covering Nicodemus, Exodusters and black towns in the West, Buffalo Soldiers, and black women in the West.
“The slave experience in America was not as simple as black and white, as we might want to believe,” said Bates. “It was experienced on many levels, by many diverse groups of people and individuals black as well as white, and varied geographically and individually from one state and plantation or household to the next. Slavery should be looked at, explored, and discussed without blame, shame, guilt, or anger, which cloud our views and limit our understanding.”
“The Nicodemus Connection to a Vice President” is part of the Kansas Humanities Council’s Humanities Speakers Bureau, featuring presentations and discussions that examine our shared human experience—our innovations, culture, heritage, and conflicts.
The Kansas Humanities Council conducts and supports community-based programs, serves as a financial resource through an active grant-making program, and encourages Kansans to engage in the civic and cultural life of their communities. For more information about KHC programs contact the Kansas Humanities Council at 785.357.0359 or visit online at www.kansashumanities.org.
For more information about “The Nicodemus Connection to a Vice President” in Junction City, Kansas, contact the Deliliah Hamilton at 785.226.2750, deliliahdansby@yahoo.com or Margy Stewart at 785.539.5592, margystewart785@gmail.com.
