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Prof tracks African-Americans' early attempts to gain civil rights - Kansas played bigger part than often realized

R. Steve Dick/University Relations

Shawn Leigh Alexander, assistant professor of African and African-American studies, has researched early efforts by the African-American community to organize politically, including incidents in Kansas that played into the civil rights struggle.

Prof tracks African-Americans' early attempts to gain civil rights

Kansas played bigger part than often realized

Kansas' role in the lead up to the Civil War is well-documented, but a new KU professor has found that the state was more involved in the century-long struggle for civil rights that followed the war than many people realize.

In 1954, the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was decided, effectively ending school segregation. But an incident many years earlier, and much less publicized, caught the attention of Shawn Leigh Alexander, assistant professor of African and African-American studies.

Alexander, who joined KU this semester after serving as the Cassius Marcellus Clay Fellow at Yale University, researches African-American civil rights organizations formed before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. While studying incidents that spurred groups such as the Afro-American League, Afro-American Council, Niagara Movement and Committee of Twelve, Alexander learned of a 1901 incident in Leavenworth.

Fred Alexander, a black man, was accused of a local murder. While awaiting trial, a lynch mob drgged him from the county jail, poured kerosene over him and burned him to death, despite his pleas of innocence. While the case garnered little national attention, it inspired action locally.

"The black community in Leavenworth and Kansas in general rose up around this incident," Alexander said. "The lynching of Fred Alexander was a galvanizing moment."

Groups such as the Afro-American Council pushed the state to take action. Responding to public outcry, the Kansas Legislature voted to symbolically disown Leavenworth County, and Missouri symbolically voted to accept it. African-American groups moved to have the county sheriff removed from office. Neither an official disowning or removal of public official ever happened, but they laid the groundwork for things to come.

There is often a perception that groups such as the Afro American League and others were failures, Alexander said. The more successful NAACP, however, adopted many of the tactics groups such as the Afro American League pioneered. That, coupled with local responses to incidents such as the Alexander case, shows that the entities were effective in their time and place.

The research is the basis for one of two books he is writing. The first is an exploration of African-American political and civil rights activity in the post-Reconstruction era. The second is a collection of writings of civil rights activist T. Thomas Fortune. Fortune wrote for various newspapers for decades, including his own paper, the New York Age. "T. Thomas Fortune: The Afro-American Agitator" will be published in the spring.

Alexander, the historian for the Department of African and African-American Studies, teaches classes on 19th and 20th century African-American social and intellectual history, the history of the Black Power movement and the intellectual thought of W.E.B. DuBois.

One of his main areas of interest is expanding the study of prominent figures such as DuBois and Booker T. Washington. A common perception exists that the two held differing views on issues such as education, and that Washington was the more conservative of the two, often standing in the way of progress. Alexander argues the two greatly respected each other's points, often differing on emphasis rather than overall substance.

Alexander said he was drawn to KU by the strength of programs and unity of the African and African-American studies department. At most universities, he said, not only are the two not joined, but are often spread throughout various departments.

"I think being here at this moment is great," he said. "It's a very exciting time for the university and the Department of African and African-American Studies."

TOPONYMS

In June 1945, Gertrude Sellards Pearson, a 1901 alumna, and her husband, Texas oilman Joseph R. Pearson, donated $200,000 to help build student housing. In the next 15 years, two residence halls and three scholarship halls opened. One residence hall, named for her, still houses women; the other, named for him, now is home to the School of Education. Pearson, Grace Pearson and Sellards scholarship halls were named for members of their families. For more, see www.buildings.ku.edu.