Name/Title
Nicodemus, Kansas, History of Black Settlement, 1877Entry/Object ID
9999.BHF.312Scope and Content
Nicodemus, Kansas
In July, 1877, Negro "exodusters" from Kentucky established a settlement here in the Promised Land of Kansas which they named Nicodemus. Although the colonists lacked sufficient tools, seed and money, they managed to survive the first winter, some by selling buffalo bones, others by working for the Kansas Pacific railroad at Ellis, 35 miles away. In 1880 the all-Negro community had a population of more than 400.
Their industry brought approving notices in Kansas newspapers. One story concerned a farmer who with one cow broke and improved twelve acres of prairie and cultivated eight acres of corn; his wife drives the cow and keeps the flies off. Another spaded a four foot hedge row around 160 acres of land. Edward P. McCabe who joined the colony in 1878, served two terms as state auditor1883-1887, the first Negro to hold a major state office.
By 1887 Nicodemus had churches, stores, lodges, a school and two newspapers, but its future was blighted when a projected railroad failed to materialize. Nevertheless these pioneers who built so much with so little hold a proud place in the Kansas story
This folder has a photocopy of a picture of a Kansas historical marker about Nicodemus. This historical marker tells the Nicodemus story. Nicodemus was the first black settlement in Kansas, established in 1877 by the "Exoduster." This is the last survivor of the dozen all-black settlements established in the late 19 century. It has been declared a National Historic Landmark,
Organized groups of blacks to migrated to Kansas. Nicodemus, officially founded September 17, 1877, was named after a legendary slave. The community reached its peak in 1910 when the US census bureau recorded 595 blacks in the county.
Th first school and first church in Graham County were established at Nicodemus in the winter of 1877-78.Collection
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Nicodemus, Kansas, Black Settlement, Black History, Exodusters, Kansas History, Blacks in KansasRelationships
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Person or Organization
Edward P. McCabe