Small Town News

Podcasts explore legacy of border war

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Seven short stories about the Missouri-Kansas Border War are now available online. The stories from Freedom's Frontier podcasts examine the local stories of the border conflict through historical documents and local lore, as told by modern-day Kan-sans and Missourians who consider the impact of the Border War and the Civil War on their communities.

The podcasts, a partnership between the Kansas Humanities Council and the Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area, are available at kansashumanities.org.

In 1854, when the Kansas-Nebraska Act opened the Kansas territory to white settlement giving settlers the right to vote on whether to enter the territory as a free or slave state, the eyes of the nation turned to Kansas and Missouri. The border between the two states became the first battleground for the issues and ideas that eventually engulfed the nation in civil war.

"The Missouri-Kansas Border War was a turbulent time in our regional and national history, and the legacy of that conflict still resonates today," said Julie Mulvihill, executive director of the Kansas Humanities Council. "The purpose of the podcast project is to present stories of the conflict from local points of view and to examine the lasting effects of the Border War on these communities."

The Stories from Freedom's Frontier podcasts feature historians from Edgerton, Fredonia, Humboldt, Osa-watomie, and Yates Center in Kansas, and Harrisonville, Lexington, and Nevada in Missouri who examine the events of the 1850s and 1860s from a local perspective.

Podcast topics include John Brown, Order No. 11, the Battle of Lexington, Muskogee leader Opothleyahola, James Henry Lane, and freed slave Polly Crosslin.

Davis Preservation of Topeka recorded and produced the Stories from Freedom's Frontier podcasts.



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© 2011 The Valley Falls Vindicator Valley Falls, Kansas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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