Friday
April 25, 2003
Vol.113.Issue No.142
Today's weather
60°
Tonight: 40°
KANSAN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Tell us your news
Contact Kristi Henderson, Jenna Goepfert or Justin Henning at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
'Hawks look to finish season strong; take on Cornhuskers today p.1B
Show to dance into Lied
ByJessica Palimenio
jpalimenio@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Stomps and claps will fill the Lied Center during the annual Step Show tomorrow night.
Eight organizations, mostly minority fraternities and sororities, will compete in the competition, a tradition since 1996.
Anthony Brown, Leawood senior and Alpha Phi Alpha president, said the stepping tradition developed from the skits and dances that groups used to preform on campus for recognition.
The stomping, clapping and chanting was developed with a military influence. Some of the movements are based in tradition while others are impromptu.
Because of low membership numbers, each member must participate, even if he or she doesn't have dancing ability.
rhythm get thrown into this," Brown said.
"Some people who don't have any
The groups have been practicing for months to perfect their routines. Because of intense competition, the groups practice at undisclosed locations.
Alpha Phi Alpha members refer to their practice space as "the igloo," because they are "ice cold," Brown said.
Alpha Phi Alpha has won the competition for the past three years. Members said that if they won again, they would retire the trophy.
Sigma Lambda Beta fraternity and Sigma Lambda Gamma sorority, both traditionally Latino organizations, are also participating in the show.
Sigma Lambda Gamma has several African-American members. Kristy Croom, Independence junior and Sigma Lambda Gamma president, said the group wanted to participate to integrate African-American history into the sorority's tradition.
"We try to celebrate their culture as well, and this is one way to do that," Croom said.
David Interiano, Wichita sophomore and Sigma Lambda Beta president, said his organization wanted to use the show as an opportunity to make its presence known on campus.
"It will be a diverse audience," Interiano said. "We wanted to promote our culture and let people know who we are."
Tickets for the show are $10 and are available through the Lied Center and Student Union Activities box offices. Proceeds support scholarships and National Pan-Hellenic Council operating costs.
"We are expecting a really explosive show this year, so come fast and come early," said Mike Conley, graduate intern of fraternity and sorority life and adviser to the council.
— Edited by Lindsay Hanson
David Interiano, Wichita sophomore, and Raymond Rico, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, practice step dance moves in the Multicultural Resource Center. "It takes a lot of time and dedication to make things right," Rico said. Rico and Interiano are part of a six-man team representing the Sigma Lambda Beta fraternity. The step show competition is at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Lied Center.
Scott Revnolds/Kansan
Dan Nelson/Kansan
The Miller Home, built in 1858, still stands at 1111 E. 19th St.Before the Civil War, the smokehouse that stood behind the home is believed to have been one of about 30 stops in Douglas County on the Underground Railroad.
Slaves fled to Douglas County in pursuit of freedom
Area homes gave slaves safe haven
Contrary to its name, the Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad.
By JJ Hensley
jhensley@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
It was a series of trails connecting hideouts in barns and basements that fleeing slaves relied on as they tried to gain their freedom.
And it was a highly illegal, dangerous, clandestine activity. That makes determining the people and locations involved difficult, said Douglas County Historical Society
SEE LOCAL HOMES ON PAGE 8A
By JJ Hensley
jhensley@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Nearly 1,000 escaped slaves from western Missouri used the Underground Railroad through Douglas County between 1854 and the early 1860s, historians estimate. Moving along the Wakarusa River, through sympathetic communities in the Wakarusa Valley, the slaves relied on abolitionists to hide them in barns and houses, some of which are still standing, until they could get to the next stop along the way. For many, the goal was Topeka, and the Jim Lane Trail — today it's called Highway 75. From there, the slaves went north to Nebraska, Iowa and ultimately a new life. But some decided to stay in the area.
In the dead of winter in 1862, a slave named George Washington escaped from a farm in Platte County, Mo., about five kilometers south of what is now Kansas City International Airport. Though few records were kept at the
"In Lawrence the Jayhawkers would wait for the rewards to be posted in Kansas City about escaped slaves and they would come take them off the streets."
Steve Jansen
Douglas County historian
time, Washington's escape is recorded because his owner, Jess Miller, reported the slave to newspapers and the authorities.
After fighting his way across streams and through thick brush, Washington arrived in Parkville, Mo., to find a frozen Missouri River separating him from freedom in Kansas.
"He literally walked on water to freedom," said Washington's great-grandson, Jimmy Johnson, an archeologist living in Kansas City, Mo. "He couldn't read or write, but they talked on the farm, and he knew to head someplace in Kansas."
Across the river, Washington found a sympathetic community of abolitionists in Quindaro, who harbored fugitive slaves in a series of caves until transportation, generally wagons, could take them to their next stop on the Underground Railroad.
The journey to Topeka and the Jim Lane Trail was often the most dangerous, said Douglas County historian Steve Jansen.
"It took weeks to get from western Missouri to Douglas County — largely because of the absence of good roads and the need to travel in a secretive manner," he said. But even after the slaves arrived at an abolitionist enclave like Lawrence, it wasn't safe for them to be seen in public, Jansen said.
"In Lawrence the Jayhawkers would wait for the rewards to be posted in Kansas City about escaped slaves and they would come take them off the streets," he said, citing the infamous William C. Quantrill among those Jayhawkers.
"It wasn't safe in Lawrence because
SEE FREEDOM ON PAGE 8A
Former Irish leader speaks on civil rights
By Lauren Britow
lbristow@kansan.com
Kansas man writer
Mary Robinson, the first female president of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, was scheduled to give a lecture last night in Budig Hall.
Instead of that lecture, Robinson told audience members, including Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, that she would rather have a conversation.
"Lecture' sounds too intimidating," Robinson said. "I'd like to have a conversation, not a lecture, about where the world is today and where we want to be."
Robinson
Robinson, who served as Ireland's president from 1990 to 1997, talked about the United Nations' goal of making globalization work for all the world's people and focusing on the protection and promotion of human rights.
Robinson informed audience members of U.N. resolutions that the U.S. government had not ratified that dealt
SEE CIVIL RIGHTS ON PAGE 7A
New whistle to be tested this afternoon
By Amy Potter potter@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
KU students and faculty members should get their ear plugs out because they are going to hear a sound they haven't heard in a while.
Facilities Operations will begin installing the new whistle this morning. They hope to start testing it by 3 p.m.
The new whistle was designed from a whistle found on a steam boat called the George M. Verde, said George Cone, assistant director of mechanical systems and utilities.
Cone said Watson Library would be the best place for students to view the installation of the whistle and hear it blow.
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