By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
Local history is an integral piece of any community. There's no shortage of long-standing historical markers and buildings in Salina, but for some community members, parts of that tradition have only recently received recognition.
Those community members work tirelessly to compile and present that history to Salina residents today, and in 2022, a new historical marker found its home in Caldwell Plaza.
On June 18, 2022, the Dana Adams Project unveiled a historical marker at Caldwell Plaza in town that told the story of 19-year-old African American man Dana Adams, lynched by a mob on April 20, 1893.
"Not to blame or shame anybody, but to recognize that this happened," said North Salina Community Development board member Sandra Beverly. "You need to learn this because I don't care what happens in Washington D.C. — if you don't pay attention to your own community, You're not doing squat."
Beverly has remained active in the Salina community for decades — she has served several roles within the Salina NAACP, worked with Rev. Martha Murchison and Dee Williamson on the Dana Adams Project and continues to participate in North Salina Community Development projects.
During the commemoration ceremony at Caldwell Plaza, members of the Dana Adams Coalition told attendees that from 1865 to 1950, 23 young African American citizens lost their lives to a white mob committing a lynching.
Preserving and presenting local Black History
Beverly strived to gather and showcase local African American history to residents in her various community roles, ensuring the preservation of history surrounding local Black leaders and citizens.
A significant piece of that history also stems from the Dunbar School, the first segregated school in town after Salina became a first-class city in 1920.
According to Dunbar School Alumni Association, Inc., secretary Jennifer Gordon, once Salina reached 15,000 residents, city commissioners allowed the citizens to vote on segregating or not segregating the schools in town.
Gordon said from a pool of 2,527 votes cast, citizens elected to segregate the schools, and in November 1922, the Dunbar School opened for enrollment for students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
Named for the famous poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, the school had six teachers and 72 students entering its inaugural academic year, with P.G. Porter as its first principal.
"It was built brand new. It was considered one of the finest facilities during the post-World War I growth boom in the Midwest," Gordon said. "They had a full curriculum where teachers taught home economics, they taught what was a manual training or shop class."
As the Dunbar School began teaching Salina's African American youth, it also provided an opportunity for young teachers graduating from Kansas Wesleyan University to start their careers locally.
Gordon said one of the teachers from Dunbar, Robert Caldwell, later became Salina's first Black mayor and eventually a Kansas state representative.
His teaching career began at Dunbar in 1939, and after a break to serve in the armed forces during World War II, he returned in 1946. In 1954, the Salina School Board appointed Caldwell as principal.
"He went on to be mayor of Salina and then also a representative, so he was well known and was an integral part of getting the Alumni Association organized," Gordon said.
Caldwell was also essential in organizing the Dunbar School Alumni Association's annual reunions before he died in 1999.
Dunbar School was also significant outside of education for the Black community in Salina. The school provided a community center for members to find support and understanding.
"It was an opportunity for African American children to be taught by African American teachers. Those teachers lived in the community, some of them were from the community, so they knew the students, families, parents — they may have even gone to the same churches," Gordon said. "When you look at an environment like that, you can say there were some positives about having a segregated school with teachers that really knew you and where you were from."
"It was really an active community center and focus."
Gordon did not attend Dunbar School herself, but her brother and mother attended and told countless stories of their education and how it created a sense of community for them.
One story she remembered from her mother was during the Dust Bowl in the 1920s. Her mother lived on Eighth Street near what used to be Longfellow School, today Salina Fire Department Station One, and had to walk past Longfellow to get to Dunbar School every day.
"Mom remembers walking to school with the dust everywhere getting in your eyes, ears and mouth, and instead of being able to stop at the corner and walk right into Longfellow, which would have been ideal at that time, especially with that weather, [she had to continue] tracking on east to get to Dunbar," Gordon said.
The Dunbar School closed in 1956, only two years after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954 due to declining enrollment.
Continuing the legacy
After Dunbar School closed, the community center and spirit for Black and African American Salinans only evolved in town, with another significant social focus becoming the publication, The Black Word Is.
The Black American Citizens Organization of Salina, or BACOS, published a paper with some grant funding from 1971 to 1976. According to the Smoky Hill Museum, James Briscoe served as its editor from the publication's office on Mulberry and Third Streets.
James Briscoe served as editor from its office in the Washington Building on the northeast corner of Mulberry & 3rd streets.
"They really kept a lot of things in the pulse on the community and how they can better do things for minorities in Salina and representation in public office," Gordon said.
James Briscoe served as the editor for The Black Word Is throughout the paper's lifetime.
The Carver Center was another community hub for many Black and African American residents in North Salina. Beverly recalled staff offering everything from sewing to photography classes, but she performed in a singing group through the center.
"When I was there, Carver Center used to be a set of bearings," Beverly said. "When other kids were flipping burgers on the weekend, I was traveling on the road singing. We practiced there [at the Carver Center], where everybody hung out."
The city then decided to build a new Carver Center, leaving the community that used it without a central hub for its neighborhood. Another Beverly spoke about was the Our Lady of Guadalupe community hub that disappeared in North Salina in the late 1900s.
Beverly is an active board member of the North Salina Community Development board, and through her experience, she said many amenities on the north edge of Salina have disappeared.
"I am originally from St. Louis, Missouri, and I know what it looks like when you just destroy and cut off a neighborhood," Beverly said. "there's no grocery store, no medical services. When they closed the school, I think that was the biggest blow."
Modern-day Black History in Salina
Many residents may think back to the 1960s and 70s for race-related violence or slander, but the reality for many Black citizens in Salina is that prejudice continues in the 21st Century.
In 2013, then-commissioner Jim Gile used a racial slur to describe a hasty job during a public meeting, which the commission chairman met with little action.
"When you can have a county commissioner sit up in a public meeting and use the word n----- at least three times and not be corrected by the person that was the head of the commission, there's something wrong," Beverly said.
Beverly said that was one, yet very public, example of many residents and leaders having poor or little understanding of the challenges many African American and Black residents have encountered in their daily lives.
The north side of Salina was once a central hub for various minority communities, but today, it continues to see little development from the city.
Today, the most recent large-scale development in North Town was the new Saline County Sheriff's Office and Jail.
"This is the fire-breathing pit in my stomach right now — they built this $90 million jail, but there's nothing else at North Town," Beverly said. "The only reason Saline County built there was to put people from north Salina in it."
Through these modern-day challenges, Beverly said the Black community of Salina continues to share and celebrate its heritage throughout town in celebrations, events and historical tours.
Celebrations like the Daddy Bud Block Party, Juneteenth, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and more all provide a place for the community to gather and share stories about their lives in Salina.
"I think we do a good job of trying to keep our stories alive in the churches and our communities," Beverly said. "Just talking to each other, that's the most important thing, being open to those conversations."
The Dana Adams Project and similar organizations continue gathering historical information about impactful Black and African American Salina citizens to present to community members and visitors.
Throughout February, multiple organizations put together events to celebrate Black History Month, and at Kansas Wesleyan University, they began a new tradition this year.
KWU held its first Black Leadership Symposium on Friday, Feb. 16, where local leaders gathered to share their experiences as a Black or African American people in leadership positions.
Dr. Marlene Carson was the keynote speaker for the event, but other local leaders included Stormont Vail Health Director of Health Equity and Policy Emersen Frazier, Pfizer Senior Continuous Improvement Specialist Clifford Bunville, NBH Bank Senior Vice President and Director of Credit Review Charles Spencer and three more leaders.
During the event, speakers Frazier and Bunville shared a little about their paths to success.
"Create a mission and vision statement for yourself so that you can find out what's most important to you," Frazier said.