Schools

Kansas Schools and Racial Segregation: 1879-1954

Before 1870, Kansas denied African Americans not only the right to vote or serve in the state militia, but also to attend public grade schools unless they were designated for African Americans. In 1879, the Kansas legislature passed a law concerning racially segregated schools that persisted until 1954. It allowed school boards in the state’s first class cities, or those with a population of 10,000 or more, to decide whether to establish separate schools for African American students. However, it prohibited the establishment of racially exclusive schools in all other areas in the state. Yet, in reality, practices of racial segregation in Kansas schools often varied over time and place.

Lowman Hill School in Topeka, KS, 1892. Students in this First Grade Class reflect some of the racially integrated student bodies in Topeka’s elementary schools during the late 19^th century.

Grade School Class, Hoxie, Sheridan County, Kansas, early 1900s.

Cleveland Elementary School class, Coffeyville, Kansas, c. 1940s/1950s. Mr. Russell Cartwright, Principal.

Burnett School, # 62, Douglas County, Kansas, early 1900s. Ms. Lotta Watson, teacher.

Hill City School, 1909, Graham County, Kansas.

Topeka High Ramblers and Cheerleaders, Topeka High School, Topeka, Kansas, 1940s. Organized in 1935, the Topeka High Ramblers Basketball Team and Cheerleaders afforded African Americans an opportunity to participate in high school athletics. Most African American high school students were prohibited from participating in school team sports unless they were African American Teams.

Merrill Ross Collection

Ms. Lois Abbott’s Kindergarten Class, Washington School, Topeka, Kansas, 1955. Established for African American students in 1904, Washington school supported the largest student body among the city’s four African American schools in 1954 and continued to do so for the remainder of the decade. However, Washington was located less than ten blocks away from Parkdale, a pre-1954 school for whites. Washington School closed in 1962. Parkdale School closed in 1978.

Dunbar School Dedication Program, November 17, 1922, Salina, Kansas. By 1920, when Salina became a first class city, the city’s school board voted to establish Dunbar School, an elementary school for the city’s African American students. It also served as a center of community activities for African Americans in Salina. Although the school no longer exists, Dunbar alumni continue to return to Salina for school reunions.

Caldwell Family Collection

Lincoln Star Yearbooks, 1948 and 1951. Lincoln School was the elementary school assigned to all African American students residing in Atchison, Kansas.

Monroe School in Topeka, Kansas, 1927. Designed by architect Thomas W. Williamson, this new Monroe School building opened in 1926. It included a grand auditorium. As the earliest African American school in Topeka, Kansas, Monroe first welcomed students in 1868. At one time, it was among seven Topeka grammar schools designated for African Americans. Between 1927 and 1954, Monroe, Washington, Buchanan and McKinley elementary schools comprised the city’s African American schools. After 1954, Monroe began to serve a racially integrated student body and faculty. The school closed in 1976. Today it serves as the site for the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Park.