This Black politician recently dropped some historical gems in Kansas City | Opinion
History, when its truth is told, really gives life perspective.
That was a thought I had on Friday afternoon as I sat in a room full of folks who had come together at the historic Paseo YMCA in Kansas City to meet a Democratic congressman, U.S. Rep. James E. Clyburn, the ninth Black man from South Carolina to hold a seat in Congress.
It’s important to note that Clyburn was ninth in line because his latest book — his third — is titled “The First Eight,” and is about the Black men from South Carolina who served the nation in that congressional capacity before him.
Clyburn, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1993, made a point to say that his book dispels lies told about the eight congressmen falsely described by white supremacists as illiterate and ignorant former slaves incapable of understanding law, governance, or finance, and worse. Seven of the eight served before the era of Jim Crow laws, which began in the 1870s.
Clyburn, who is 85, was introduced by Missouri’s Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who told a story about a trip he made years ago to Tanzania to visit his cousin, former Black Panther Pete O’Neal. During that trip, Cleaver learned about “the snake line,” a level of elevation above which snakes can not survive. It’s the safe zone on Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, and where Cleaver was hiking.
Cleaver, a retired pastor known for his storytelling genius, said he has known and worked alongside Clyburn for many years. “He operates above the snake line where he is dealing with real issues that impact the American people and where things get done,” Cleaver said of his friend and colleague. “This man is a real patriot.”
Clyburn, a former public school history teacher, talked about growing up in a Sumter, South Carolina, household where Black history was discussed and taught, and where he also learned not only the importance of reading but also how to defend his position.
On The Vine readers know that every chance I get, I make the point that our history is too important to let far-right conservatives erase the Black history that helps tell the full story of our American history.
Congressman Clyburn’s dad taught him about Robert Smalls, a Civil War hero who became the second Black man from his state to sit in Congress. In his book, he writes about Smalls, whom he calls “the most consequential South Carolinian who ever lived.” He shared with his Kansas City audience that it was Smalls, who had made a miraculous escape from enslavement — not Fredrick Douglas — who convinced President Abraham Lincoln to let freed Black men fight in the Civil War.
Clyburn dropped historical gems such as the fact that “over 40% of all the enslaved Black people who came into America came through the South Carolina Ports,” and that Rep. Thomas Miller — listed as one of the last African American congressmen from South Carolina during the 19th Century — was actually a white man born out of wedlock and raised by a formerly enslaved couple.
That Miller was white and raised African American is disputed by some, who say he was the son of the biracial daughter of Judge Thomas Heyward Jr. — a signer of the Declaration of Independence — and a wealthy young white man whose family refused to accept him. Of course, the latter would mean Miller was Black, not biracial.
I’ve only just started reading Clyburn’s book. I got a signed copy during his visit here. History books are not usually my first book choice, but this one is a page-turner for me.
It might be because I admire Clyburn a great deal. Or, it could be because I shook his hand and talked with him briefly about a recent column I wrote on the student reading gap, and he seemed impressed.
But I think it’s mostly because of what he said about why he wrote the book: “I thought it was important that people know how complex the Black experience has been in this country,” Clyburn said. He wrote it, he said, “to get people to accept the fact that our history is what it is and you can’t change that.”
Off The Vine
Below are stories about culture and identity from communities in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Go here to find more from Star reporter J.M. Banks.
Owners of Sherri’s Executive Lounge are planning to bring back their Cigar Festival for a second year in Kansas City. Banks interviewed the couple for all the details planned for what they expect to be a bigger and better event.
Around The Vine
- The Blue Room, at 18th and Vine streets in the Historic Jazz District, is presenting A Taste of Jazz featuring R&B and neo-soul music led by Bobby D. Adams from 8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday, May 1.
- A major national traveling exhibit, ”Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad,” is coming to the Watkins Museum of History, 1047 Massachusetts St., Lawrence, April 7 through May 23. The exhibit is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, Exhibits USA and Mid-America Arts Alliance.
- A two-day event, being called Kansas City Cultural Festival is scheduled for May 29 and 30, under the historic Jefferson Bridge, 2130 Jefferson St. Organizers promise to fill the bridge with live music, cigar vendors, food trucks, artists, boxing and after-parties.
Vine Picks
- Days after Kansas City’s big announcement that a partnership between the Royals and Hallmark cards will bring KC baseball downtown to Crown Center, columnist Vahe Gregorian wrote about Hallmark founders and the birth of the Crown Center shopping district.
- Star visual journalist Dominick Williams introduces Kansas City to dancers — b-boys and krumpers — who were preparing for the Red Bull Dance Your Style competition in Kansas City over the weekend.
- Data matters, and so do the words we use to explain what the data means. I wrote about this and how it relates to a recent report on the data surrounding an educational learning gap between Black and white children in Kansas City.
- Kansas City officials project 650,000 visitors for the 2026 World Cup, but there are questions about the assumptions behind that number, and columnist David Hudnall looks into it all.
- Girls flag football is a thing. Star reporter Joseph Hernandez shares how the Kansas City Chiefs played a role in Kansas sanctioning the sport.
Your voice matters to us. What local issues do you want to hear discussed in On The Vine? Let me, Mará Rose Williams, The Star’s senior opinion columnist, know directly at mdwilliams@kcstar.com. Thank you for reading. Support our local journalists with a subscription.
