History of troubled times in Kansas before statehood and during the Civil War are being relived.
It’s the Bleeding Kansas Program Series featured the next six Sundays at the Constitutional Hall State Historic Site in Lecompton.
‘We’ll have six different programs starting January 30th through March 6th,” announced Paul Bahnmaier of the Lecompton Historical Society.
“On Sundays at 2 o’clock, there’ll be dramatic presentations about Kansas’ violent times from 1854 through 1865,” Bahnmaier said.
Kicking off January 30th is the Kansas Day program with faces of the Free State House. It’ll feature the first general assembly of the territory of Kansas legally elected by the people. Presentation is to be by author Bill McFarland and educator Tim Nedeau.
“Program highlight will be unveiling of a portrait identifying each member of the 1857-58 Kansas House of Representatives,” Bahnmaier said. “They were the first antislavery majority to convene in Kansas at Lecompton in Constitution Hall.”
On February 6th, retired Major T. Kevin Griffin will talk about President John Calhoun, chief architect of the “Lecompton Swindle.”
Smoky Hill Thompson, a life wild and perilous, will be presented by author Donald Wade Davis on February 13th.
Recollection of women’s desperate days will be reviewed by Peggy Bahr from the Bates County, Missouri, Historical Society on February 20th.
Life of Civil War hero Ross Burns is to be discussed on February 27th by Bryce Benedict, National Guardsman historian.
Final program is March 6th with a portrayal of Jefferson Davis and the issue of secession by reenactor Lane Smith.
CUTLINES
At Lecompton the next six Sunday afternoons, reenactors will present dramatic presentations about “Bleeding Kansas” from 1854 through 1865.
John Brown was an American abolitionist leader first reaching national prominence for his radical abolitionism and fighting in “Bleeding Kansas.”
