James Leiker, Author at

Academic Historian

James N. Leiker is professor of history and chair of the history and political science department at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. He teaches courses in United States History survey, African American Studies, and the American West. He is the author of numerous books and articles on Western History, among them Racial Borders: Black Soldiers along the Rio Grande, (Texas A & M Press, 2002) and The Northern Cheyenne Exodus in History and Memory (Oklahoma, 2011), which was named a Kansas Notable Book and won the Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize.

In 2009, he founded JCCC’s Kansas Studies Institute, a program he directed for five years. Jim serves on the board of the Kansas Business Hall of Fame and on the editorial boards of the journals Great Plains Quarterly and Kansas History. Dr. Leiker has been involved in several National Endowment for the Humanities programs, both as consultant and participant, and was a Fulbright-Hays scholar in Egypt and Israel.

Currently, he serves on the national College Board committee that prepares the annual College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) exam for History and the Social Sciences. Jim earned his B.S. and M.A. degrees from Fort Hays State University and his PhD from the University of Kansas.

George Goldsby (1843-1922)

George Goldsby, a.k.a. George Gooseby, a.k.a. William Scott, was a veteran of the Union Army and a sergeant in the Tenth U.S. Cavalry (“buffalo soldiers”). His involvement in a shooting incident near Fort Concho, Texas and subsequent disappearance created an aura of frontier mystery surrounding his name. Goldsby appeared as … Read MoreGeorge Goldsby (1843-1922)

Houston Mutiny of 1917

Image Ownership: Public Domain By the time the U.S. entered World War I, black soldiers and white Texas civilians had a history of hostile relations dating back more than fifty years. At Camp Logan, men with the Third Battalion of the Twenty-fourth U.S. Infantry … Read MoreHouston Mutiny of 1917

Plan of San Diego, 1915

In early 1915, a Spanish document appeared in the south Texas town of San Diego calling for Chicanos in the U.S. Southwest to start a race war at 2 a.m. on February 20. The document called for the recapture of all lands stolen from Mexico … Read MorePlan of San Diego, 1915

El Paso Salt War, 1877

El Paso’s salt mines, located about a hundred miles east of the city, had long been used by local Indians and Chicanos. In 1877, two local political factions struggled for control of the deposits; these were the so-called “Salt Ring” led by District Judge Charles … Read MoreEl Paso Salt War, 1877

Brownsville Affray, 1906

In July 1906, the U.S. Army stationed three companies of the all-black Twenty-Fifth Infantry at Fort Brown, Texas, adjacent to Brownsville. In recent years, southern Texas and the border region had seen periodic disturbances between American soldiers and local Chicanos who resented the military’s presence. … Read MoreBrownsville Affray, 1906