History
How One Kansas City Hospital Treated Segregation in the ‘50s
Queen of the World Hospital was a beacon of unity at a time when black and white citizens were segregated. “Non-white” Kansas Citians – categorized as black and Mexican at the time – had limited options for health services.
Update: Waiter! There Is A Bug In My Pizza
Update: After this story was published on Jan. 16, Kansas Citians wrote to us asking if the restaurant on Independence Avenue was somehow connected to the one they knew on Metcalf Avenue in Overland Park, Kansas. The answer is yes, the two were linked, according to longtime Pitch writer Charles Ferruzza. Members of the Kansas City…
6 Kansas City places with surprising ties to the civil rights movement
Today is a chance to reflect not just on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and the history of civil rights in the United States but also the sometimes-forgotten role played by important places right here in Kansas City. Below are a few places to consider checking out to commemorate how far we’ve come…
This Man Paved The Way For Lee’s Summit
This resource has been removed permanently. There are two sorts of people in the world — those who are blissfully uninterested in the origin of street names, and those who are helplessly intrigued by the history behind this most basic feature of public life.When it comes to Todd George Parkway in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Sam…
The Rise and Fall of an Overland Park Icon
Metcalf Avenue is certainly not the Champs-Élysées, but at one time, a French-themed market loomed large — like a medieval castle — above Overland Park’s main drag. This superstore, in fact, was named the French Market, and curiousKC delved into the history of the place at the behest of Quentin Brewer, a Mission, Kansas, resident…
Turn O’ the Century Kansas City Amusement
Nowadays, if you want entertainment, you don’t even have to leave your couch — seasons of “Friends” are just a Netflix log-in away. The more adventurous types can head to First Fridays or take a ride on the Mamba roller coaster at Worlds of Fun. But what about a hundred years ago? What the shuttlecock…
Kansas’ Important Place in Black History
Today, Kansas is known as a deeply conservative state, but a historian reminded a Kansas City audience that the state actually has a long history of racial progressivism dating back even before its statehood. “There is no other state beyond Kansas whose history is so intertwined with the idea of African-American freedom, African-American liberation,” said…
A Healthy Bond
Throughout history, marches and protests have allowed women to change the world with their feet. Perhaps no one contributed to that legacy more than Harriet Tubman. She trekked out of Maryland as a fugitive slave in 1849, and then she walked to and from the South 19 times to help hundreds more escapees reach freedom…
An Exchange of a Lifetime
By Debbie Coleman-Topi Amid the riots unleashed following the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a spark of hope quietly ignited in the center of the country. That flicker was right here, in Kansas City, where Catholic leaders launched an experiment that confronted race head-on by bringing black and white students literally face to…
Searching For Her Dad’s Technical High School
By Jack Harvel Like so many men of his generation, Jack Harrigan was a small-town kid born early in the 20th century, weathered the Great Depression, fought in World War II, then returned home to raise a family while working a blue-collar job until passing away in 1990 at the age of 75. His daughter…