Abolitionist museum plans lagging

Brownback says competing interests slowing monument to 'Bleeding Kansas' role

Efforts to create a national museum to underscore Bleeding Kansas’ role in the nation’s abolitionist movement have reached a stalemate, U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback said Tuesday.

“There’s a lot of dissidence,” Brownback said, minutes before addressing a Lawrence Chamber of Commerce breakfast forum at Haskell Indian Nations University.

Brownback, R-Kan., first proposed seeking federal funding for an anti-slavery museum two years ago. Since then, officials in Lawrence, Osawatomie, Topeka and Kansas City, Kan., each have lobbied to put the museum in their community.

A committee of representatives from various interested communities was put together at Brownback’s urging to study the proposal. But its members have been unable to reach a consensus.

“There’s still work to do. We’ve not jumped through all the hoops yet,” Brownback said, adding he’s also heard concerns about the possibility of the museum’s promoting violence.

“There is some feeling out there that ‘abolitionist’ is, uh, a bad title,” he said, “because of some of the things that happened during the Bleeding Kansas time period.”

Prior to the Civil War, northeast Kansas was the site of several bloody skirmishes between free-state settlers and pro-slavery raiders.

Lawrence is well-known for being the site of guerrilla William Quantrill’s raid in 1863, during which most of the town was burned and more than 150 people were killed.

Also, abolitionist John Brown divided much of his time between Lawrence and Osawatomie.

At the Lawrence Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, director Judy Billings agreed with Brownback’s assessment.

“He’s right. We’re struggling,” said Billings, who also is vice chairwoman of the Abolitionist Museum Committee.

“The problem,” she said, “is that very early on, the discussion got focused on where the museum should be rather than what it should be. Things have pretty much bogged down.”

Billings said most of her attention was focused on getting the region designated as a National Heritage Area, which, if approved by Congress, eventually could lead to a museum.

In Osawatomie, Mayor Norma Stephens said city leaders had arranged to make available 41 acres of state-owned land for an abolitionist museum.

“It’s on a bluff, and it’s just beautiful,” she said. “We really think the museum if there’s going to be one belongs in Osawatomie. This is the heart of John Brown country; he lived here, his sons followed him here and established a village near here, and there was lots of action around here.”