Does knowing history change history? In the form of an illustrated letter to family and friends, I take the reader on a journey through time. Determined curiosity leads me to encounters that reveal what I was not taught at school. I believe we become more humxn when we connect: with those who came before, with [...]

Mary Kay McPhee of Kansas City accepted, at the age of 90, the invitation of Empower Missouri to be interviewed about her life of service. She embodies the Empower Missouri slogan of advocating for justice and empowering change. In her ethical will and the conversations documented here, she shares her life, values, and hopes.

The A. Philip Randolph awards were distributed on April 15, 2016, at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center and Museum in Kansas City. In the 1920s and 1930s, Randolph helped organize America’s porters and maids working on the Pullman railroad cars and created the first African-American-led labor union. Many Pullman maids and wives, daughters, and sisters of Pullman porters were members of the Ladies Auxiliary which shaped “public debates over black manhood and unionization, setting political agendas for the black community, and crafting effective strategies to win racial and economic justice.”

Julia Hill didn’t have to think long about what the next 50 years might hold for civil rights in America. “I’ll be gone,” she said, when I questioned her. “But I’m going to pray for you.” The audience at the Plaza branch of the Kansas City Public Library laughed. The group had gathered to honor [...]

Black children of the 1950s and 1960s are “babies of the civil rights movement,” according to Judge Lisa White Hardwick. Each of us was profoundly influenced by the struggles and sacrifices of people like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and must own the responsibility to make King’s “dream” of equality and and opportunity for [...]