Difficult it was for africanamericans all across the country to receive an educational a good education in their community. Here in topeka, though, if you looked at the schools just standing outside, youd be very hard pressed to determine whether white students or africanamerican students attend attended because the school board really did provide all of the same materials that the white schools offered. And what is even more interesting for most people whether they come to visit is they find out after visiting elementary school, africanamerican students attended integrated middle and high school schools. Because the law in kansas only permitted segregation in Elementary Schools. So you had separate schools in topeka and about a dozen other communities in the early 1950s. Communities and what they adore, while they certainly were no supporters of segregation and, obviously, saw the injustice of having to attend separate Elementary Schools the Africanamerican Community also was very proud of their schools because these were excellent facilities. But teachers who were teaching in the classrooms, like the one were standing in right now, all had bachelors degrees if not masters degrees. These were some of the only professional jobs for africanamerican women in the city of topeka. So that was going to be lost once schools were integrated. So while there was support for the idea of integration there was some resistance especially from the teachers and the local chapter of the naacp who feared the loss of these institutions and the loss of those jobs. And thorps not unwarranted when the middle schools integrated a few years before, there werent africanamerican teachers who lost their jobs. So the feeling there was very much attention between what was going to be gained which was full access to neighborhood schools where these africanamerican children lived but there was also a sense of loss, of what was going to lap to these teachers in these institutions. The museum was very much designed to tell the broader story of the struggle for civil rights in american history. And, really, the roots of that go back to the origins of slavery in the United States. So when you enter the building, youll be greeted by a park ranger and then the focal point or or beginning point of the exhibit sess a 25 minute series of films which is set up between a dialogue between an older man and a young woman. Which basically traces the civil rights of the abolition of slavery in the civil war and its replacement ooh an institution which was every bit as unjust which is segregation laws. With that as a starting point, visitors can move into the first exhibit and that leads up to the decision to use education as the legal issue whereby the naacp would end all segregation laws. As i mentioned before, that was really just the wedge issue to integration educational facilities and then all of the other dominos of segregated institutions would fall. And those did want fall easily. So one of the more powerful portions of the exhibits is called the hall of courage which is footage gathered from various locations around the country which were in opposition to the brown decision and the movement to integration schools. And that took place all over the nation, including the northern states like massachusetts where there were riots and protests of busing policies to create integrated skeels. Those were extremely violent and extremely bloody and extremely costly to the United States. So to imagine what it must be like to be a 16yearold boy or girl and be confronted by a mob is what the hall of courage is attempting to recreate and is probably one of the most visceral and most powerful parts of the exhibits here. Were here to engage about these issues because theyre ongoing and continuing in our society. There are new court cases and new groups struggling for better access, equal access to civil rights. We dont go and build mu sigh yumms, we preserve places that were an integral part of that story. We believe that by preserving those pieces of our heritage even if theyre difficult stories to tell like segregation and integration that visitors, whether theyre from the u. S. Or abroad whether theyre caucasian or africanamericans, you better understand the story when youre standing in the place where these events actually happen. Theres something intangible in these places that you can actually feel the history resinating by being in these places that were an important part of our history. The kansas state capital was build over 37 years which is unusual for capitols. But they started in 1866 after the civil war was over. We became a state january 29th 1861, so that makes us 154 years old in 2015. They were not able to start on the building because of the civil war. They built it in sections. We are laid out like the u. S. Capitol. They started with the east wing with the senate chamber. Then they did the west wing, which has our house claim chamber. They did the south wing, the former Supreme Court room. The north wing has the state library. Finally, the dome. That did take 37 years at a cost of approximately 3. 2 million. It was quite a bit of money at that time, but they did spread it out over the 37 years. We are one of the few capitols that all the money was raised before they built. So there was no debt associated with actually building the capitol itself. When kansas was about to enter the union, there were equal numbers of free and slave states. Kansas was going to break the tie. I believe that is where the state motto comes from. Our state motto is add astra, which stands for to the stars through difficulty talking about how kansasans are tough, they can get through anything no matter what happens theyre going to make it through. We are currently on the second floor of the kansas state capitol. This floor has the most famous mural on it in our capitol, the tragic prelude. That was painted by jon stewart curry and in the late 1930s. When he was paintsing the tragic prelude, he was commissioned to paint the story of kansas. So he started off coreonado was in that painting showing the early days and the first person who described the area. The buffalo hunters who were clearing the way for the railroads. So there was progress. He included some covered wagons. Painted heading west. The covered wagons are painted heading west, representing the westward expansion. At one time, kansas was the frontier. So we were the the kind of the last civilization before people headed out to california. But, again, the main figure is john brown. And he towers about 12 feet tall in the painting. He is surrounded by the two sides of the civil war. There are the north and the south and the Confederate Flag and the United States flag. There are two dead soldiers that rest at his feet and they represent everyone who died during the civil war. So there is quite a lot of symbolism. There is a gentleman hidden in the background with a top hat and theres some discussion that might have been abraham lincoln. That was on the northern side. He wouldnt have been president at that time since this was all prior to the civil war. It is maybe some foreshadowing. He included a tornado and a prairie fire, which represented the death and destruction associated with war, becoming storms of war, at the natural disasters we faced. A lot of symbolism there. He also includes the western meadowlark come our state bird. Some people say was a martyr, some say he was a terrorist. Here, he is our famous painting and people can come. You can interpret how you would like. The state library is in the north wing. That was the last place completed in the capital building. At the time, it was 1900. Annie diggs was the state librarian at that time