KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The images of the attack on the U.S. Capitol are still difficult to process, but one image from last Wednesday carried even more meaning for a local historian.
One moment from Jan. 6 stood out to Kansas City's Phil Dixon.
"Boy, it's hard to unravel those emotions, but one thing I will say, a lot of disgust. We always held the Capitol in great esteem, great esteem, to even have his photograph, his portrait to hang in the Capitol building is just a tremendous honor."
That portrait is of Sen. Blanche Kelso Bruce, Phil Dixon's great-great uncle.
"Senator Bruce and the whole family came here with the Bruce family and they were slaves, held as slaves in Brunswick, Missouri," Dixon said.
Bruce eventually started a school for African Americans in Hannibal, Missouri, before fleeing to Kansas.
"Quantrill's Raiders came through and he left Kansas, went to Mississippi, and he was elected to the Senate by caucus and so he became a senator from the state of Mississippi and was the first African American to serve the full term in the Senate," Dixon explained.
He said that last week's mob passing by his great-great uncle's image was painful.
"To see his picture in part of this history just, you know, just brings his figure back to life in ways that we never thought imaginable," Dixon said.
He went on to say that this is a teaching moment for those outside his family tree who are well versed in Sen. Bruce's history.
"I want people to remember this great American and this is my opportunity to speak on behalf of myself and my whole family and for generations of us and Americans yet unborn, that this history matters," Dixon said.
That history was made by a senator whose term ended 140 years ago, but whose legacy is felt here at home, and in our nation's capitol.
Sen. Bruce's portrait has been a fixture in the U.S. Senate for 20 years, and Phil Dixon said his descendants in the greater Kansas City area number in the triple digits.
