African American Homesteaders of the Great Plains with Jacob K. Friefeld

This project seeks to learn, preserve, and disseminate the story of African Americans who homesteaded in the Great Plains. The project is a collaborative effort with Nicodemus National Historic Site and the Homestead National Monument of America. It is partially funded by the National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.

The project is producing a general survey of black homesteaders in eight plains states. The research will create the first extensive database of black homesteaders in these states.

The project also focuses on six important black homesteading communities or "colonies": Blackdom, NM; Nicodemus, KS; DeWitty, NE; Empire, WY; Dearfield, CO; and Sully County, SD. They are the largest and longest-lived communities in each state. The project is currently working with local partners to build historic markers near the Empire and Sully County sites. 

Jacob K. Friefeld is a Research Fellow at the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska. He is coauthor of Homesteading the Plains: Toward a New History (2017). He is currently studying the history of black homesteaders in the Great Plains. His most recent coauthored article in Great Plains Quarterly "African American Homesteader 'Colonies' in the Settling of the Great Plains" explores the history of six black homesteader communities.

 https://www.unl.edu/plains/homesteading-research

Friefeld@unl.edu