The
Autumn 2004 JOURNAL of the Jackson County Historical Society features Taking
Steps to Record Steptoe, Westport’s Vanishing African American Neighborhood contributed
by Joelouis Mattox
Looking back 140 years ago, our
ancestors were embroiled in the Civil War. With slavery and African American
heritage being so intimately connected with this subject, we take this
opportunity to invite you to help Joelouis Mattox, who is Taking Steps to
Record Steptoe, Westport’s Vanishing African American Neighborhood. Steptoe is the name of an antebellum African American neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, that is about to vanish. Located in the historic Westport district, residents of Steptoe once called their community “a little island� and declared it “the best colored neighborhood in the city.� Steptoe may have originated around 1850. There is a mystery about who or what the area was named after. This article is the author’s first attempt to take steps at brining attention to the critical need of researching and documenting this historic ethnic enclave of Westport in Kansas City. Joelouis mattox is a Kansas City free-lance writer. He majored in history and government at Lincoln University in Missouri and is a member of the Lorenzo Greene Branch, Association for the Study of African American Life and History. He may be contacted in writing at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center, 3700 Blue Parkway, Kansas City, MO 64130. Readers with ANY kind of information (personal recollections or documents or photographs) are encouraged to contact the Jackson County Historical Society, or the author. Websites offering more information: Kansas City
Call’s Steptoe article Independence
Examiner’s Steptoe article Steptoe Wills & Deeds recorded in Bedford County, Virginia, 1848-1859Henry Clay Pate’s involvement in the Virginia Confederate Cavalry
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