and managed to escape in the fall of 1856 and find his way back to franklin, indiana where he spent time with his family, his father and his family in indiana, leaving a wife and children here into bego topeka. when he comes back to topeka in the spring of 1857, the free

and managed to escape in the fall of 1856 and find his way back to franklin, indiana where he spent time with his family, his father and his family in indiana, leaving a wife and children here into bego topeka. when he comes back to topeka in the spring of 1857, the free soil people have gained control of the territorial legislature. they begin to institute, rather than pro slavery legislation, they enact a free soil anti- slavery legislation. that pretty well seals the deal that kansas is ultimately going to be a free state rather than a pro slavery state. the result is pretty clear. the free people have become a dominant. and when that happens bleeding kansas turns into a different scenario. that scenario is the people who involved in trying to block the spread of slavery during bleeding kansas now began to operate the underground railroad. beginning in 1857 what happens is that this house becomes one of the centers where escaping slaves can find refuge and gain assistance to be transported to nebraska and into iowa and turned over to abdomen listitions in iowa where they would be help

this was don richie who brought his family from franklin indiana, in march of 1855 just three months after the town of topeka was established. he becomes a very active -- an activist in the free state cause. beginning by the fall of 1855, these rival forces are each creating their own towns. to come see is a community established by folks for slavery. it's five miles east of topeka. it was the scene of pro slavery folks. then when holiday and the people that his group found topeka in december of 1854, they come with the notion that they're going to have a free state town. that is just five miles apart. all up and down the kansas river, you have these communities, one is a free state community as opposed to lecompton which is a pro slavery community. and they hope, each one, to run the other one out. one of the things that missouri does, for instance, they bring all sorts of malicious into kansas and identify lawrence as a community that is settled by new england anti-slavery people. so an army literally comes into consistentance from all these militias coming into kansas and identify

indiana university. his book, the condemnation of blackness, race, crime and make offering a modern urban america will be published by harvard university press and it won the 2011 john hope franklin best book award in american studies. and here also this afternoon is we have author and nyu professor of journalism, dr. pamela newkirk. he book, which you all see in your programs, is "spectacle: the astonishing life of ota bengal" she is an author, journalist and professor at new york university, multifacetted scholar who has published a variety of works that present multidimensional portraits of african-american life. her first book within the veiled black journalist, like me, explores historical troubles of journalists integrate can mainstream news rooms in america. love letters from a black america "which i had the pleasure of reading recently, a fantastic tome put on the list. the book we're talking about this afternoon i'm not going steal her thunder as she is going to talk to us about the book and all that went putting it together as part of a wonderful afternoon. please join me in welcoming our speaker this afternoon. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you al