Black American Blueprint Collective Announces ‘our Stories’ Exhibit Moving Locations, Landing At Great Overland Station This August

The Topeka-based Black American Blueprint Collective (BABC)—a nonprofit dedicated to honoring and preserving the community’s Black history—is proud to announce its “Our Stories: African American Topeka Before and After Brown” exhibit will move to the Great Overland Station in August, following its run at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library and three months at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to keep this collective history alive and viewable by the public at another local historic site,” said Sherri Camp, BABC project director. “This exhibit is one where the voice truly belongs to Topeka’s Black community, a community that has impacted the city’s development and legacy in tremendous ways. Many Topekans don’t realize the extent of that influence. We hope ‘Our Stories’ becomes a context provider and conversation starter, keeping this important history at the forefront of our consciousness.”

“Our Stories,” currently on display at Topeka’s Brown v. Board museum at Monroe Elementary School, features information about African Americans’ early days in Kansas, the vibrancy of Topeka’s historic Black neighborhoods, the city’s thriving Black business community, and how these institutions were impacted by the national Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954.

“Our Stories” will move to Great Overland Station in late August, where it is expected to remain through February 2025. The exhibit was made possible with support from Visit Topeka, Humanities Kansas, Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area, Equity Bank, Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, Washburn University, Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park, Kansas Museum of History, and the Kansas Historical Society.