Nicodemus, Kansas Founded as Black Freedom Colony

Nicodemus, Kansas was founded in July 1877 by Black settlers from Kentucky and other Southern states as an all-Black township. At its 1880 peak it had approximately 700 residents, a school, churches, a post office, and businesses. Nicodemus represented one of the most successful Black-organized settlements of the Exoduster movement. It survived the failure of the hoped-for railroad connections; Nicodemus is today a National Historic Site.