KC Black History Project wins national award of excellence
Kansas City history is making national history.
The American Association for State and Local History has named the Kansas City Black History Project as a 2022 winner of its “Award of Excellence.”
The joint project by LINC, the Kansas City Public Library and the Black Archives of Mid-America was recognized for representing “the best in the field” and providing “leadership for the future of state and local history.”
The project for 12 years has been researching and publishing the stories of Black men and women from the Kansas City area who changed the world in fields of business, arts, education, music and sports.
Annually, the project’s biographies were distributed in booklets, posters and calendars that became popular sources of history for schools, libraries and community groups.
In December 2020, the project compiled more than 70 of the stories into a book that commemorated the project and included essays from contemporary leaders and poetry. An expanded version of the book, with new biographies and essays, will be published later this summer. Watch LINC’s KC Black History page for updates.
This year, the project enhanced a website — kcblackhistory.org — that gathers the stories and essays and adds links to lesson plans and recorded oral histories.
More than 20,000 of the books have been distributed, and the posters and calendars have been enjoyed throughout the nation as well as the Kansas City area, and even internationally.
The Kansas City Black History Project’s national award will be honored with other 2022 honorees at the American Association for State and Local History’s annual conference in Buffalo, NY, in September.
The AASLH has been making its awards since 1945 to honor and encourage excellence in the collection, preservation, and interpretation of state and local history nationwide.
The AASLH Leadership in History Awards not only honor significant achievement in the field of state and local history, the association notes, but also “bring public recognition of the opportunities for small and large organizations, institutions, and programs to make contributions in this arena.”