KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A brief history of the Kansas City International Airport can be found near the B Concourse gates of the new terminal.
Between the walkways, one corner is dedicated to the land beneath the tarmac.
“That is often an untold story,” said Gene Chavez, Kansas City Museum historian in residence. “A story that is part of the counter-narrative of telling what is American history.”
Chavez consulted on the content the terminal developer chose to display, hoping to tell the entire story of the land.
Oralee McKinzy, daughter of Warren Riley Watkins Jr., is following in the footsteps of her father to tell the stories of enslaved people in Platte County.
“It’s a learning process for us all,” McKinzy said. “We are all connected in some way, and I think it’s necessary that people dig in deeper to find out what they look like and what they actually is.”
For years, descendants of slaves from Platte County and Westin, Missouri, met at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Center.
Their goal of documenting their history to share their family’s experiences with the world is now a reality.
“We had meetings sitting right here, The Watkins Foundation. My dad would sit right there. That’s why I chose that seat,” McKinzy said. “This was his vision, and now it has come to life. There’s still more work to do. It’s a work in progress.”
Many of the people who had a hand in bringing their ancestors' stories to the forefront have not seen the display but plan to stop by on their next trip out of KCI.
“I don’t know if validation is the right word, but it feels like we as a people, no matter how small our little slice of Earth, we are recognizing and honoring our ancestors who did so much for this country and this town and this county,” said Angela Hagenbach, who is a descendant of slaves from Westin.
KC-area independent filmmakers had a hand in the initiative, too. They created videos with an oral history of the area to supplement photos and descriptions written on the displays.
“The struggles that we had to get the stories to be viewed has been worth it,” said Lucille H. Douglass, who is a descendant of slaves.
Douglass voiced a portion of the video history which takes visitors through the struggles of native people who were pushed west after the Indian Removal Act.
The video then describes the work of enslaved people who white settlers brought to the area after Missouri entered the union as a slave state in 1821.
“This is Kansas City, Missouri. We are right in the middle,” McKinzy said. “We have silent history here. What we are trying to do is tell the counter-narrative, the untold stories. There are a lot of stories that lie within that 11,000 acres.”
McKinzy, Hagenbach and other descendants plan to continue their efforts throughout the metro.
“We are going to make some positive changes and some inclusive changes. All of it will direct back to the airport and to the Kansas City Museum," Hagenbach said. "It will be like a triangulation of history that has been ignored, forgotten or purposely hidden.
"We are going to bring that out and say their names and tell their stories — let people know that they are here and because of that we are here.”
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