Hidden History

The era of segregation gave Troost Avenue its unfortunate reputation as Kansas City's racial dividing line, neatly separating the black and white communities. Segregation affected other ethnic groups in the metro, too. From 1910 to 1921, for example, Mexican immigrants found new homes in the Argentine, Rosedale, Armourdale and West Bottoms neighborhoods. "It was a very different time in Mexico, so over a million people either died or migrated out of Mexico," says Gene Chavez, a historian of Mexican-American culture and language. Although the immigrants found work here with the railroad and in the slaughterhouses, the white community wasn't necessarily welcoming. "One of the churches created another whole congregation across town so that they didn't have to go to church with the Mexicans," Chavez says. For an oral history project sponsored by the Kansas Humanities Council, he spent about 600 hours interviewing 13 second-generation Mexican-Americans about their experiences growing up in Kansas City and their parents' experiences immigrating. Chavez will talk about his findings and share a video excerpt from his project, Voces del Pasado: Mexican Americans Tell Stories of Their Past, tonight at 7 at the Shawnee Town Museum (11600 Johnson Drive in Shawnee). Call 913-248-2360 for more information, or see shawneetown.org.
Second Tuesday of every month, 7 p.m. Starts: April 14. Continues through Oct. 13, 2009