Stories from Freedom’s Frontier

In 1854, when the Kansas-Nebraska Act opened the territory now known as Kansas for white settlement and gave settlers the right to vote on whether to enter the Union as a free or slave state, the eyes of the nation turned to Kansas and Missouri.  The border between the two became the first battleground for the issues and ideas that eventually engulfed the nation in Civil War. 

Here you can listen to modern-day Kansans and Missourians share local stories of the Border War through historical documents and local lore.  Each considers the impact of the Kansas/Missouri Border War and the Civil War on their communities.   

James Henry Lane and Lanesfield 
    Lanesfield School Historic Site
    Edgerton, Kansas 

The Burnt District, Cass County, and the Youngers
    Cass County Historical Society
    Harrisonville, Missouri

The Story of Aunt Polly
    Humboldt, Kansas

The Battle of Lexington
    The Battle of Lexington State Historic Site
    Lexington, Missouri

John Brown's Raid on Vernon County
    Bushwhacker Museum, Vernon County Historical Society
    Nevada, Missouri

John Brown and the Adairs
   John Brown State Historic Site
   Osawatomie, Kansas

The Story of Opothleyahola
    Wilson County and Woodson County, Kansas 

Podcasts recorded by Davis Preservation and narrated by John Berry.

The podcasts are a partnership between the Kansas Humanities Council and the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area.  For more information about the Civil War on the Kansas-Missouri border, visit Shared Stories of the Civil War.