Lawrence NAACP Honors Lynched Ancestors

0:00The Lawrence NAACP chapter has been six years digging into the past at Oak Hill Cemetery's Potter's Field, where over 1,000 people are buried, without markers. They've identified 30 black families from the 1800s and bought headstones to honor them. The project got its star from a dark chapter in local history, the lynchings of three black men, Isaac King, George Robertson, and Peter Vennigarron, the Kansas River Bridge in 1882. Those men are buried in Potter's Field and the group work with the University of Kansas to pinpoint the spots. Kansas saw 23 documented racially motivated lynchings between 1865 and 1950, with three right here in Douglas. County. Ursula Minor, the chapter president, leads the effort. Her family has deep roots in Lawrence since the 1800s, and she grew up facing segregation, like the white's only pool across from her home. That didn't integrate until she was in sixth grade. Her father, a local historian, documented black families and their lives, inspiring her

1:01work. Minor hopes to place the headstones by June 10th, exactly 144 years after those lynchings. She's also an artist, weaving civil rights themes into her beadwork, and has volunteered for decades on library boards, schools, and heritage stores. By uncovering these stories, Minor believes Lawrence can confront its full history and build a stronger community together. Some news, powered by AI. This is Kansas News Today. I'm Cory with the story.