Press Release: February 17, 2011

National Archives at Kansas City

National Archives to host Kim Cary Warren, author of The Quest for Citizenship: African American and Native American Education in Kansas, 1880-1935

For More Information Contact:
Kimberlee Ried, 816-268-8072

Kansas City, (MO)…The National Archives at Kansas City will host author Kim Cary Warren for a discussion and signing of her book The Quest for Citizenship: African American and Native American Education in Kansas, 1880-1935 on Thursday, March 3, at 6:30 p.m. Warren will be available to sign copies of her book after the discussion. A 6:00 p.m. reception will precede the event.

The Quest for Citizenship examines the formation of African American and Native American citizenship, belonging, and identity in the United States by comparing educational experiences in Kansas between 1880 and 1935. Warren focuses her study on Kansas, thought by many to be the quintessential free state, not only because it was home to sizable populations of Indian groups and former slaves, but also because of its unique history of conflict over freedom during the antebellum period. After the Civil War, white reformers opened segregated schools, ultimately reinforcing the very racial hierarchies that they claimed to challenge. To resist the effects of these reformers' actions, African Americans developed strategies that emphasized inclusion and integration, while autonomy and bicultural identities provided the focal point for Native Americans' understanding of what it meant to be an American. Warren argues that these approaches to defining American citizenship served as ideological precursors to the Indian rights and civil rights movements. Warren conducted research for her book at the National Archives at Kansas City.

A native and long-time resident of Kansas City, Missouri, Kim Warren earned a BA in American Studies from Yale University as well as an MA and a PhD in History from Stanford University. Before taking a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Kansas in 2004, Warren served as the Director of the Center for Service Learning at Rockhurst University from 2002 to 2004. Warren’s teaching and research focus on gender and race in the United States, and she has also written articles on African American tourism in West Africa, interracial marriage, educational reform, civil rights, and women’s rights. Her research has been funded by the Spencer Foundation/National Academy for Education and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

Copies of The Quest for Citizenship: African American and Native American Education in Kansas, 1880-1935 are available for purchase at The Kansas City Store at the National Archives. For more information or to make a reservation for this free event, call 816-268-8010 or email: kansascity.educate@nara.gov.

The National Archives at Kansas City is one of 13 facilities nationwide where the public has access to Federal archival records. It is home to more than 50,000 cubic feet of historical records dating from the 1820s to the 1990s created or received by nearly 100 Federal agencies. Serving the Central Plains Region, the archives holds records from the states of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The facility is located at 400 West Pershing Road, Kansas City, MO 64108. It is open to the public Tuesday - Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for research, with the exhibits open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 816-268-8000 or visit us online.

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