But wagon wheel ruts aren’t the only reminder of that dream; they lead to the small, unincorporated community of Nicodemus, Kansas, the oldest, and last remaining, all Black town in the American West.

This is American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner’s depiction of Nicodemus meeting Jesus at night on a rooftop in Jerusalem. Tanner lived from 1859-1937. (Courtesy Photo) Told in the Gospel of John ...

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University “A tale of trial ...

Formed in the 1870s, Nicodemus was settled by formerly enslaved residents fleeing the central bluegrass region of Kentucky. Only a handful of structures survive from the town, which has been ...

Established in 1877 by formerly enslaved people and their descendants, Nicodemus is one of the oldest African American communities west of the Mississippi River. Angela Bates has lived across the ...

“Kansas wins with collaboration. Rural Kansas thrives when organizations step out of their silos and work together,” Kansas ...

Their destination is Nicodemus, an all-black town on the high plains of western Kansas. Newlywed and pregnant, Emma Johnson-Williams traveled with her parents and siblings to start a new life of ...

Bates helped establish the Nicodemus Historical Society in 1986. The significance of Nicodemus was becoming recognized nationally. It is the oldest and only remaining Black settlement west of the ...

Lowell Alton (Nick) Nicodemus, loving husband, father, and papa, passed into the Lord’s hands the morning of December 15, 2024. He was born in Wadsworth, Ohio, November 1, 1938. He had a notable ...