This project will collect stories from local black families about the racial history of Lawrence, KS. In recent years, the local NAACP chapter has worked with the city and the Equal Justice Initiative to bring high-profile moments of local racism to light. But for every moment of high-profile racism, there are dozens of untold stories of the black experience. The NAACP aims to collect the full breadth of stories and, when collected, create an online repository of black life in Lawrence. Funding will be used to pay team members and those who share their stories, to set up awards for stories and youth-engagement in racial history, and create the online repository.

Project News & Documents

'Lawrence NAACP to preserve stories of Black people buried in unmarked graves with headstones, biographies,' The Lawrence Times, March 20, 2026.

'Biographies of 30 African Americans buried in Potter's Field at Oak Hill Cemetery,' Jeanne Klein, 2026.