KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Public Library has partnered with the Local Investment Commission and Black Archives of Mid-America for a brand new project, launched at the start of Black History Month.
At the Central Library, located at Baltimore Avenue and West 10th Street, the fifth floor has stories to share — stories of the rich history of Black Kansas City.
"Invested their bodies, their brains, their money, their energy into creating something here, into creating a community, into creating a culture," Dr. Carmaletta M. Williams, CEO of the Black Archives of Mid-America in Kansas City, said.
Those stories are now off the page and on a brand new Kansas City Black History website, accessible to all during and after Black History Month.
"Moving this to an online platform allows us to add additional content," Jeremy Drouin, the library's manager of Missouri Valley Special Collections said. "We can do audio visual materials, oral histories, we can expand our bio's and ultimately reach a lot more people."
The project's leaders say this takes Black History Month beyond the familiar national story, to a hyper-local narrative.
"This brings it home. It shows that there were people in Kansas City, Black Kansas Citians, making essential contributions to our community," Matthew Reeves, the library's education and outreach librarian said.
Those contributions are spelled out in dozens of biographies and essays, all at your fingertips.
"There were people who worked equally as hard here in Kansas City, who did not get as much fame, whose work was not proclaimed as world changing, but they did change the world," Williams said.
The new website also offers crafted lesson plans for educators, so a complete picture can be painted for students.
"[This is] To avoid the discussions of folks who have come before seem like an act of erasure," Reeves said. "And so it's been a privilege to work with educators here in the Kansas City community."
The project's leaders are eager for its future reach and potential.
"I’m extremely excited about it, there are no limits," Williams said. "It can continue to grow and grow and grow, and then long after those of us who are here now working on it have moved on, new technological formats and platforms will be here and it can transferred so that young people learn virtually."
It's a new website that can grow beyond the shelves and walls of the library itself, sharing this community's story, authored by Black trailblazers.
