On May 26, 1992, career diplomat Kenton Wesley Keith was nominated by President George H.W. Bush to serve as U.S. ambassador to Qatar. After U.S. Senate confirmation, Keith arrived in Ad-Dawhah (Doha), the capital of Qatar and presented his credentials on September 2, 1992. He … Read MoreKenton Wesley Keith (1939- )
Alfonso E. Lenhardt is currently Acting Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). He previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania from 2009 to 2013. A native of New York City, New York, Ambassador Lenhardt began his … Read MoreAlfonso E. Lenhardt (1943- )
“Image Ownership: Evan Vucci/AP” Political scientist and civil rights activist Ronald Walters was born in July 20, 1938 in Wichita, Kansas to parents Gilmar, a veteran and jazz musician, and Maxine Fray Walters, a civil rights investigator. In the summer of 1958 he organized the … Read MoreRonald Walters (1938-2010)
Ambassador Charles Aaron Ray was born in Center, Texas in 1945. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in 1972 from Benedictine College in Atchinson, Kansas, and his Master’s of Science from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and a Master’s of Science in National … Read MoreCharles Aaron Ray (1945- )
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Ambassador Charles Richard Stith, a diplomat, minister, professor, and urban reformer, presently serves as the Director of the African Presidential Archives and Research Center at Boston University in Massachusetts. In 1998, President Bill Clinton named him ambassador to Tanzania. Stith … Read MoreCharles R. Stith (1949- )
“Image Ownership: University of Kansas” On November 16, 1999 President William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton nominated Delano Eugene Lewis to be the United States Ambassador to South Africa. Lewis was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and served in that capacity from 1999 to 2001. Having spent … Read MoreDelano Eugene Lewis (1938 – )
In the extended article that appears below historians Daudi Abe and Quintard Taylor explore the history of African Americans in King County from 1858 to 2014. They analyze the forces which encouraged people of African ancestry to settle in the county and discuss the rapid … Read MoreFrom Memphis and Mogadishu: The History of African Americans in King County, Washington, 1858-2014
Abram Thompson Hall, Jr., a northern journalist, forced the organization of Graham County after arriving in Nicodemus, Kansas, the first all-black community on the high plains. The county’s rapidly increasing white population objected, but Kansas Governor John Pierce St. John acknowledged the validity of Hall’s … Read MoreAbram Thompson Hall Jr. (1851-1951)
Battle Flag of the Second Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment “Image Ownership: Kansas Historical Society” The Second Kansas Colored Regiment, also known as the 83rd U.S. Colored Troop, was best known for its bravery during the Civil War battle of Jenkins Ferry, Arkansas. The Second Kansas … Read MoreSecond Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment (1863-1865)
“Image Ownership: 25or6to4 (CC BY-SA 4.0)” St. John African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church in Topeka, Kansas was officially organized in 1877 when it was chartered by Reverend John M. Wilkerson of the Missouri African Methodist Episcopal Conference. In 1868, nine years before the charter, however, … Read MoreSt. John African Methodist Episcopal Church, Topeka, Kansas (1868- )
