About Kansas Chautauqua

Each evening in four Kansas towns under an old-fashioned tent in the city park, famous historical figures shared stories about their lives and how their actions affected the Kansas Territory and the future of America.

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, who toured the Kansas Territory in 1859 speaking against the extension of slavery.

John Brown, fiery free-state advocate who came to Kansas determined to end slavery. His raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859 led to his hanging, but he’s forever identified with Kansas and the abolitionist cause.

Frederick Douglass, former slave, national abolitionist leader, who published The North Star, an antislavery newspaper.

Clarina Nichols, settler in the Kansas Territory, advocate for women’s rights, helped slaves escape to freedom along the Underground Railroad. For more information, www.clarinanichols.com.

David Atchison, U. S. Senator from Missouri who worked to bring Kansas into Union as a slave state, a "Border Ruffian" who led raids into Kansas.

Stephen A. Douglas, U. S. Senator from Illinois, author of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, whose debates with Lincoln on the extension of slavery to the territories electrified the nation.

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