Mari Fitz Wynn, Council Grove, KS, Last Chance Store Cellar, Underground Railroad

RECONNECTION IV ISSUES CALL TO EXODUSTER DESCENDANTS

Topeka, KS (BlackNews.com) -- Calling all "Exoduster" descendants nationwide! A public history event aimed at reconnecting the descendants of those who fled the South in the Great Exodus of 1879 and formed colonies in "free soil" Kansas is planned for April 22-23, Kansas State Historical Society. Descendants of these early black settlers will rediscover their roots and meet fellow twenty-first descendants of their nineteenth- century forebears.

This fourth Reconnection event will celebrate early black settlements around Topeka: the former colonies of Tennessee Town, Redmondsville, Mudtown and the Ritchie Communities in Shawnee County and Wabaunsee County. "I'm hoping for the participation and warmth of a family reunion," Ustaine Talley of Topeka, a Kansan native and Exoduster descendant, remarked. "We also want descendants of benefactors of the colonies to be a part of this reconnection."

The program of Thursday, April 22, will include lectures and workshops followed by discussion sessions in which attendees will be encouraged to participate. Topics include Challenges of Ethnic Research, Charles Sheldon and his contribution to Tennessee Town, Reconnections event and its place in the wider stream of public history, panels on Tennessee Town, Redmondsville, Mudtown, and the Ritchie Communities. A luncheon with keynote speaker Dr. Thomas Cox will be held. Cox will address the social and intellectual history of the American and African American experience with an emphasis on Topeka blacks. On Friday, April 23, a bus tour of Tennessee Town, John Ritchey House, Congregational church, and Brown v. Board National Historic Site will take place.

Registration for Thursday workshops is free. Preregistration fees are required for the luncheon ($25) and the tour ($25). The preregistration deadline is Thursday, April 15. To preregister or for more information, please contact Nat Fitz (510-620-0919;nafi1@juno.com) or Ustaine Talley (785-232-0848). Information can also be found online at www.votawcolony.org

Reconnection IV is presented by Votaw Colony Museum, Inc. and co-sponsored with the Kansas Humanities Council, Kansas State Historical Society, Washburn University, Shawnee County Historical Society, Brown v. Board National Park site, and Prairie Heritage Institute, Inc.

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