A forerunner of the NAACP, Colored Conventions were created as a safe space for Blacks to discuss issues of the day. The delegates that came from across the state to these meetings included prominent writers, organizers, church leaders, newspaper editors, educators and entrepreneurs in the canon of early African American leadership. The conventions established issues committees, political plans and circulated petitions. They raised funds to support community-building projects and protested against racial inequality and violence. In Kansas, conventions occurred from as early the 1860s well into the 20th century in Leavenworth, Salina, Topeka, and Kansas City.
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Kansas Black History Facts are compiled for The Community Voice by Donna Rae Pearson.
