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Originally, in the 1820s, Kansas was part of an area the government designated "Indian Territory." The Indian Removal Act of 1830 led to thousands of indigenous peoples being forcibly resettled in Kansas, including the Shawnee, Delaware, Ottawa, and the Potawatomi tribes, among countless others. Those already living in Kansas such as the Kansa and Osage lost much of their land in the efforts to resettle the newcomers.
Despite this being Indian Territory, white settlers clamored for land in Kansas. Once the area was officially made into the new territory of Kansas with the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, it finally opened to white settlement. With the Homestead Act of 1862 and the growing railroad industry, the late 1800s saw Kansas's largest increase in settlers.
By the turn of the century, white European settlers made up a large portion of the immigrants in Kansas. Many came from Germany but also from Russia, and those Germans from Russia were known as Volga Germans. Swedish farmers, threatened by famine in their homeland, came to Kansas as well. The influence of the British Isles can also be seen, from the proliferation of Scots-Irish religious culture to the Welsh language.
However, white settlers were not the only ones who sought better lives in Kansas. Following the Civil War, many African Americans began arriving in Kansas. Nicodemus may be the most famous, but there were many other Exodusters who came later, as seen in Morton City. Mexican immigrants came due to the construction of the railroads. Asian immigrants have also been in Kansas since the beginning. Like many others, Chinese migrants came looking for gold, and many eventually found work with the railroads. There were Chinese laundries in Wichita as early as the 1880s!
To learn more about Kansas's rich multicultural history, you can browse through projects highlighting the various racial and ethnic groups by clicking on the green buttons above!
