This Is Not Dixie: Racist Violence in Kansas, 1861-1927

297 Pages·2015·2.417 MB·English

by  Brent M.S. Campney

This Is Not
Dixie
Racist Violence
in Kansas
1861–1927
Brent M. S. Campney
This Is Not Dixie

This Is Not Dixie
Racist Violence in Kansas, 1861–1927
Brent M. S. Campney
University of Illinois Press
Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield
Publication of the book made possible in part by a grant from the
University of Texas–Rio Grande Valley.
© 2015 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
c 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Campney, Brent M. S.
This is not Dixie : racist violence in Kansas, 1861–1927 / Brent M. S. Campney.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-252-03950-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-252-09761-4 (e-book)
1. African Americans—Violence against—Kansas—History.
2. Racism—Kansas—History. 3. African Americans—Kansas—History.
4. Kansas—Race relations—History.
I. Title.
E185.93.K16C36 2015
305.896'0730781—dc23 2014047485
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
A Note on the Use of the Federal Censuses ix
Introduction 1
1. “Light Is Bursting upon the World!” 17
2. “Negroes Are the Favorites of the Government” 45
3. “Kansas Has an Ample Supply of Darkies” 63
4. “A Day More Dreadful Than Any That We Have
Yet Experienced” 88
5. “Some Finely Tuned Spring-Release Trap” 116
6. “The Life of No Colored Man Is Safe” 132
7. “Sowing the Seed of Hatred and Prejudice” 156
8. “Peace at Home Is the Most Essential Thing” 179
Conclusion 201
Appendix 1. Incidents of Racist Violence in Kansas, 1861–1927 220
Appendix 2. Incidents of Jailhouse Defenses and Police
Resistance Against Racist Violence in Kansas, 1890–1916 239
Notes 244
Selected Bibliography 273
Index 277

Acknowledgments
I am pleased to acknowledge the many debts incurred in the process of writing
this book. I owe much to Ruth Simms Hamilton (1937–2003), who, as my soci-
ology professor at Michigan State University during my sophomore year, first
kindled my interest in studying race and ethnicity. Since that time, I have had
the opportunity to work with many extraordinary teachers who have enhanced
my mastery of those subjects at the University of Michigan, the University of
Kansas, and Emory University. Among these, I extend a special thanks to Allen
Tullos, at Emory, who has remained a valued friend and mentor. Finally, I thank
Emory University for its generous support of the research that provided the
foundation for this book.
Along the way, I have received the support of many friends and colleagues
who have contributed their time and effort to this project by reading drafts, sug-
gesting secondary literature, and challenging my assumptions, by opening their
homes to me during my research trips, or by simply being great and supportive
friends. Among these I acknowledge in particular Adrian Holly, Jeff Kosiorek, Eric
White, Tanessa Strotkamp, Philip Webb, Megan Birk, Linda English, Chris Davis,
Sonia Hernández, Amy Hay, Amy Wood, Rudolph Byrd (1953–2011), Linda Selzer,
William Carrigan, Margaret Vandiver, Michael Pfeifer, Christopher Waldrep,
James Shortridge, and Virgil Dean.
I am grateful to the cartographer Erin Greb for her extraordinary responsive-
ness and her outstanding work on the maps. I am similarly grateful to Teresa
Coble at the archives of the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka. She has
responded to email requests for more than a decade with uncommon dedication
and good humor. Finally, I thank Laurie Matheson and the University of Illinois
Press for putting their faith in me.
I reserve my greatest thanks for those closest to me. My sister Carmen, her
husband Sven, and their children, Torsten and Solveig, have helped keep me
grounded. My dear friend Hsiu-Hua Shen made this process much more enjoy-
able than it might otherwise have been. My parents, Ruth and Thomas Campney,
have always offered me their unwavering love, support, and encouragement. To
my parents I dedicate this book.

A Note on the Use
of the Federal Censuses
Throughout this book the federal censuses conducted from 1860 to 1930 are
often cited as sources in the text. They are rarely, however, cited in the notes
or maps because the data found in them were used primarily to calculate in-
formation about trends over time for the particular political entities enumer-
ated in the censuses or for the geographical regions developed specifically for
this book. The information about these trends consists mainly of absolute or
percentage changes in the total or the black populations found in the various
entities under consideration. It is, therefore, derived from but not found in the
censuses as published.
Readers interested in the census data from which these trends were developed
should consult the relevant tables for Kansas in the following volumes:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Statistics of the Population of the United States at
the Tenth Census (June 1, 1880). . . . Washington, DC: Government Printing
Office, 1883.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Report of Population of the United States at the
Eleventh Census: 1890, Part I. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office,
1895.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Census Reports, vol. 1, Twelfth Census of the United
States . . . 1900. Part 1. Population. Washington, DC: United States Census
Office, 1901.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Thirteenth Census of the United States . . . 1910, vol. 1,
Population, 1910: General Report and Analyses. Washington, DC: Government
Printing Office, 1913.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Thirteenth Census of the United States . . . 1910, vol. 2,
Population, 1910, Report by States . . ., Alabama–Montana. Washington, DC:
Government Printing Office, 1913.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Fourteenth Census of the United States . . . 1920, vol. 2,
Population, 1920, General Report and Analytical Tables. Washington, DC:
Government Printing Office, 1922.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Fourteenth Census of the United States . . . 1920, vol. 3,
Population, 1920: Composition and Characteristics of the Population by States.
Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1922.