A Kansas City museum uncovers the names of enslaved people
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What is the main focus of today’s Kansas City Today episode?
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This is Kansas City Today. I'm Nomi Nugiauddin. Today is Friday, August 21st. Coming up, for decades, the names of thousands of local enslaved people lay hidden, buried in deeds, wills, probate records, and bills of sale.
The thing that's really coming out of these documents is how ingrained slavery was into Jackson County.
We'll learn about the uncovered history that's shedding new light on the past lives of enslaved people in Jackson County. But first, some headlines. The Kansas City Council has passed a nearly $2 billion plan for a downtown baseball stadium. The city is promising $600 million in public funding, and private funders will kick in $760 million. Missouri will also contribute hundreds of millions of dollars. Benjamin Astudillo of the advocacy group Missouri Workers Power says he was unhappy the funding package moved through the city council quickly.
Constantly moving forward with ordinances without having public hearings. You know, it doesn't look good for that system.
How is the $2 billion downtown stadium plan affecting Kansas City politics?
It looks corrupt. It looks lobbied. And it looks like they are in the pockets of billionaires instead of being in the pockets of the people who pay their salary.
Mayor Quentin Lucas says the new stadium will bring millions of tourists, tens of thousands of jobs, and billions of dollars of investment to downtown Kansas City. The agreement also commits the Kansas City Royals to community improvements, like $5 million for the Negro League's baseball museum and $5 million for affordable housing. Wednesday's episode of Kansas City Today misidentified which elected officials voted to advance this plan to the full city council. Councilman Jonathan Duncan is not part of the city's finance committee and did not participate in that vote. A Kansas City congressman is responding to Wednesday's court decision to leave Missouri's new congressional map off of the ballot in November.
Sarah Kellogg reports an appeal in that case has been set for September 2nd.
Missouri's new map aims to draw Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver out of his seat in part by splitting the Kansas City area into three districts. Cleaver says there's a reason why redistricting happens right after the census, not halfway into the decade. This is not an intelligent decision. I mean, it wasn't based on anything factual. It was just a phone call from Washington. We want Cleaver out and we want our person in and that's it. However, the 2025 map isn't necessarily the map that will be used in the November election. An effort to suspend the map until it gets either approved or rejected by a vote of the people through a referendum is awaiting a hearing from the Missouri Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court ultimately upholds the referendum, the new map could be suspended until the vote on it occurs.
Republican State Senator Rick Bratton of Cass County is challenging Cleaver for his seat. The new 5th Congressional District stretches from the Kansas City area to Jefferson City.
Why are Missouri’s new congressional maps causing controversy and legal battles?
Bratton says he can represent both the rural and urban parts of the district.
Everybody wants safe streets. They want great quality education. They want to be able to achieve the American dream. And that's what I will be able to represent and provide. I don't think that they've received that.
Bratton and Cleaver both spoke at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia this week. Among them was Democratic Representative Carrie Engel of Jackson County. She says she expects Amendment 4 to come back in some form, even though about 80 percent of voters rejected it in the August primary. If passed, the measure would have made it harder for citizens to amend the state constitution. Engel says she doesn't expect Republicans to give up on the issue.
Ever since I've been in the legislature and for years before that, the supermajority has tried to undermine the initiative petition process.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main focus of today’s Kansas City Today episode?
0:00–1:16
2
How is the $2 billion downtown stadium plan affecting Kansas City politics?
1:16–3:07
3
Why are Missouri’s new congressional maps causing controversy and legal battles?
3:07–5:23
4
What were the impacts of the 1951 Kansas City flood and how is it remembered today?
5:23–8:36
5
How did a historic property record reveal the names of enslaved people in Jackson County?
8:36–10:44
6
What is the Enslavement Database and how does it make hidden records searchable?
10:44–11:44
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Kansas City Today
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