Bleeding Kansas
In this episode of Roots of Resistance: Radical Kansas, we dive into the dramatic events of Bleeding Kansas, a violent period in the mid-1800s when pro-slavery forces and abolitionists clashed over the future of Kansas.
Resources & Further Learning
- Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era by Nicole Etcheson
https://www.kansaspress.ku.edu - The Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-battle-cry-of-freedom-9780195088491
Black Perspectives on Bleeding Kansas & Abolition
- The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist
https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/edward-e-baptist/the-half-has-never-been-told/9780465030293/ - Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/172146/slavery-by-another-name-by-douglas-a-blackmon - The Black Abolitionists by Benjamin Quarles
https://www.umass.edu/umpress/title/black-abolitionists
Primary Sources & Letters
- John Everett Letters, 1854-1864, Kansas Historical Society
https://www.kshs.org/p/letters-of-john-everett/17077 - The Herald of Freedom Newspaper
https://www.kshs.org/
Indigenous Perspectives on Bleeding Kansas
- The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/567361/the-heartbeat-of-wounded-knee-by-david-treuer - An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/228195/an-indigenous-peoples-history-of-the-united-states-by-roxanne-dunbar-ortiz
Take Action
- Support organizations like the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty and the ACLU of Kansas, working to continue the abolitionist spirit in Kansas today.
Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty: https://ksabolition.org
ACLU of Kansas: https://www.aclukansas.org - Engage locally: Find organizations working on racial justice, reparations, or abolition in your community, and see how you can support their work.
