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Smithfield
This residential area was carved from the Joseph Riley Smith plantation, a 600 acre antebellum farm, one of the largest in 19th century Jefferson County. Smithfield lies to the west of Birmingham's city center on the flat land & hills north of Village Creek & has the city's earliest & most substantial concentration of black, middle-class residences, small commercial enclaves & churches. The neighborhood illustrates the lifestyles of a wide spectrum of black Birmingham citizens in the early 20th century, & provides an exceptional view of the emergence of a black white-collar class in the city. Residential structures include a variety of industrial housing types, as well as examples of the fashionable styles built for community leaders.
Nicodemus
Nicodemus, established in 1877, was one of several African American settlements in Kansas. The 350 settlers came from Kentucky to escape the problems of the oppression of the "Jim Crow" South. Residents established a newspaper, a bank, hotels, schools, churches, and other businesses. They enjoyed much success despite the hardships and challenges of late 19th century High Plains settlement -- wind, drought,swarming insects, and more.
The town grew rapidly through the 1880s and many prospered. But when Nicodemus failed to secure the railroad, growth slowed and the population began to dwindle after World War I.
Edward P. McCabe, who joined the colony in 1878, served two terms as state auditor, 1883-1887, the first African American elected to a statewide office in Kansas.
A symbol of the African American experience in the West, Nicodemus operates today as a unit of the National Park Service. |