blaKC (1/5)
Founded in 1946, Gates Bar-B-Q continues to be owned and operated by the Gates family. Gates draws a direct culinary lineage to the Father of Kansas City Barbeque.
Published February 1, 2021
A NOTE FROM THE WRITER: Initially, I wrote this piece as the latest edition of Devan’s Dozen, a column that follows the traditional web ranking template to sporadically share what I believe to be the best of Kansas City. This month, I had planned to do a special edition in celebration of Black History Month, highlighting twelve black men, women, and entities who made incredible contributions to our city, and overall society. However, as I wrote, this column really took on a life of its own. As these synopses evolved into a full-blown collection of essays, it became clear that this could no longer be a singular post. Additionally, it was exceedingly difficult for me to narrow down the stories I wanted to tell. I quickly realized it was unjustifiable to shoehorn these stories into a ranking system for no other reason than to satisfy a template. How could I even begin to quantify the impact of such amazing barrier breakers? What began as a singular blogpost has been split into five chapters that will be be released throughout the month of February. Although, I still chose to tell twelve stories, this feature does not fit the description of a “Devan’s Dozen”. Instead, I present to you the first edition of, what will be an occasional feature on disKCovery, “flashbaKC”. When this feature does appear, it will tell the stories that explore our wonderful city’s journey to where we are today. If history is not your thing, rest assured, your regularly scheduled programming will resume in March. As always, thank you so much for reading!
Please, be mindful that due to COVID-19 concerns, some of the places recommended in this article may not be open to the public, or have limited hours and capacity.
I love Kansas City. I love our signature combination of major city amenities and small town hospitality. I love that we have successful, professional sports teams, but that we don’t have traffic. I love this city. And when you love something, you love it completely.
I love Kansas City both for what it is now, and for what I know it can, and will, be. I love Kansas City because I understand where this city came from. From the terrible twos of Bleeding Kansas, to the rebellious Pendergast teenage years, to the current age in which we find ourselves; understanding this city’s journey is key to loving it. Accepting the bright, shining moments and the reality of the appalling, darkest hours, creates a more holistic comprehension of KC. One cannot understand where this city is going without realizing where it has been. To love this city is to know its history.
Kansas City history IS black history. Period.
There is no other way to say it. You cannot, and should not, separate the two. Although, Lord knows our city has tried.
Structurally, Kansas City was, for many years, among the nation’s most segregated cities. In fact, we annually ranked in the bottom percentile of this metric until just two or three years ago. A number of factors contributed to this. Among them, the abhorrent actions of real-estate developers like J.C. Nichols and Fletcher Cowherd, as well as the systemically unjust practices of racially-motivated gerrymandering, redlining, and gentrification that followed. That is not to say that Kansas City is out of the woods in this regard. Nowhere near. Clearly, our city still has a long way to go.
Our stories are not nearly as easy to segregate as this city was. Today, Kansas City is widely known, and celebrated, for the contributions of our vibrant black community. Our city’s passion for sports? It started with the Negro Leagues and the Kansas City Monarchs. “Cradle of Jazz”? That tradition began with black musicians and bands playing in black-owned hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs. “The Gateway to the Southwest”? The Santa Fe Trail was packed with wagons from Hiram Young & Co. How about our status as the “World Capital of Barbeque”? That tradition begins with Arthur Bryant, George Gates, Ollie Gates, and “The Barbecue King” who preceded them.
To know Kansas City is to know our black community and their stories. The coming pages present only a handful of them. You will know some of these names, and others you will not. Some may be people you have heard of, but never realized their connection to this city. Some may be more famous, or have a perceived larger impact, than others. Regardless, the stories that lie ahead, and those I regrettably could not tell, are all significant.
There are a few reasons that people write. As for me, this month, I am going to tell the stories of some magnificent black men, women, and institutions that forever changed our city, this region, and the world.
Whether or not you are entertained, persuaded, or informed; well, that’s up to you.
Chapter I: Black-Owned Business
When it comes to the American Civil Rights movement, we typically hear about the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, John Lewis, and others. We learn about the March on Washington, sit-ins at the Woolworth’s lunch counter, “Bloody Sunday”, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. What often gets left out? The role black-owned businesses played in it all.
For instance, in Montgomery, Alabama, the boycott of the bus lines only proved successful because the majority of the city’s taxi companies were black-owned. The taxis conspired to match the price of bus fare to give people an affordable alternative. Black-owned businesses were the mechanism that kept the Civil Rights Movement alive. Anytime that those fighting for equality faced economic pressure to give up the fight, it was the African American business collective, in cities across America, that stepped up to help. That’s a part of the story that we often skip.
This past summer, we saw a nationwide push to support black-owned businesses, as people of all backgrounds unified to take a stand against racial injustice. Kansas City was no different. Made in KC even published a guide of the city’s black-owned businesses to assist those who wanted to show their support.
Truth be told, Kansas City has a history of black entrepreneurship that actually predates this city’s founding. Some of our city’s greatest traditions, institutions, reputations, and legacies, all originated with African American entrepreneurs.
These are just a few of their stories.
Advertisement for Henry Perry’s restaurant from The Kansas City Sun in 1917.
The Barbecue King
Henry Perry (1874 - 1940)
Clipping from The Kansas City Call, Circa 1932.
For the better part of a century, Kansas City has been synonymous with world-class barbeque. Incredibly, our reputation as the “Barbeque Capital of the World” can be clearly traced back to a small street cart and one man. Before the Kansas City Kings took the court, before the Royals picked up a bat, before the Chiefs or even the Monarchs came into existence; Kansas City had a king and his name was Henry Perry. While recently, there have been efforts to shed some light on the Father of Kansas City BBQ, it is still likely that this is your first time hearing Perry’s name.
Originally from western Tennessee, Henry Perry grew up near Memphis where the art of “low and slow” was a way of life. He spent his twenties working as a cook on Mississippi and Missouri riverboats before settling in Kansas City in 1907. Perry had an entrepreneurial spirit and saw the potential for barbeque in this city. Within a year, he set up a push cart in a downtown alley where he sold his smoked meats, wrapped in newspaper, to Garment District workers. By 1910, his twenty-five cent slabs of pork ribs, smoked wild game, and signature sauce were in such high demand, that he opened Kansas City’s (and according to some accounts, America’s) first barbeque restaurant at 19th and Paseo. Painted on the window in large white letters were three words, “THE BARBECUE KING”.
Arthur Bryant once noted that Perry “started with a hole in the ground” which indicates that his earliest offerings were truly “pit barbeque”. He believed in cooking the meat over a fire of hickory and oak, allowing the meat’s fat to drip on to the fiery wood below. This style is still prominent today. He hung up a sign in his no-frills restaurant that declared, “My job is to serve you, not to entertain you.” This is still a sentiment that pervades many BBQ joints across the city. He set the tone for what Kansas City barbeque would evolve into.
In spite of his success, Perry never forgot his humble origins. On July 3, 1920, The Barbecue King began an annual tradition when he famously fed over 1000 elderly people and children in his community, free of charge.
At the time of his passing in 1940, Henry Perry was beloved in Kansas City. The popularity of his smoked meats transcended several racial and socio-economic divides in this city. Perry left his restaurant to his apprentice Charlie Bryant; who in turn, sold it to his brother Arthur in 1946. Having also learned from Perry, Arthur Bryant kept all of the original recipes with one exception. He added molasses to Perry’s “harsh, peppery sauce” making a change that would forever define Kansas City ‘que. That same year, Arthur Pinkard, another former cook at Perry’s restaurants, partnered with George Gates to open Gates Ol’ Kentucky Bar-B-Q.
“Kansas City might not even be Kansas City if not for Henry Perry ... If somebody other than Henry Perry had been the first to open a barbecue joint in Kansas City, God might have just gotten exasperated and decided, ‘Look, if you can’t get it right, I’ll let some other city be The Barbecue Capital of the World.”
Today, Kansas City is home to more barbeque restaurants per capita than any other city in the world. Every year, we host the world’s largest barbeque competition - the American Royal World Series of Barbecue.
Sadly, there are no parks, memorials, or streets dedicated to the man who gave Kansas City its culinary identity. Instead, Perry’s legacy lives on in the scent of hickory smoke that pervades every pocket of the BBQ Capital.
So, What Do I Do Now? With nothing in Kansas City named for Perry, the first thing you can do is SIGN THIS PETITION to name the new airport terminal in honor of this Kansas City icon. Secondly, you should eat! There is an abundance of options in the BBQ Capital but the original Arthur Bryant’s Barbeque and Gates Bar-B-Q are barbeque royalty and have a direct culinary lineage to “The Barbecue King”. While Arthur Bryant’s has changed hands over the years, Gates is still family-owned and a black-owned business.
Located in the historic 18th & Vine District, this mural at The Kansas City Call honors founder Chester A. Franklin.
A Voice for the Voiceless
The Kansas City Call (1919 - Present)
This past December, The Kansas City Star admirably released a “six-part package” detailing the ways that they, and their now defunct sister paper, The Kansas City Times, have failed this city’s black community over the past 140 years. Like many major publications of the 19th and 20th centuries, The Star and The Times wronged an entire population both in the way they chose to report on the black community and the stories they chose to ignore. Many of these stories, like Henry Perry’s, only survive today because the early 1900s saw the emergence of black-owned media outlets in major American cities. In Kansas City, there were a number of black newspapers but the most notable, and lasting, was Chester A. Franklin’s The Call.
“... the press is to publish, not suppress news.”
Chester Arthur Franklin was born to be a newspaperman. He spent his formative years in Omaha, Nebraska where his father George established and ran the black newspaper, The Omaha Enterprise. Later, the family moved to Denver where they purchased The Colorado Statesman and renamed it The Denver Star. Due to the declining health of George, a seventeen year old Chester was forced to assume the responsibility of editing, publishing, and distributing The Star. When his father passed in 1901, Chester continued to operate the paper with his mother Clara’s assistance. Chester’s desire to serve a larger African American audience led him and Clara to move to Kansas City in 1913.
As the world went to war, Chester established himself in the community. He actively helped raise funds and support for the establishment of the Wheatley-Provident Hospital (Kansas City’s first black-owned hospital) and the construction of the Paseo YMCA building. When local unions prohibited local printers from assisting Franklin, he taught himself how to use a linotype machine. In the spring of 1919, Chester Franklin printed his first edition of The Call.
Initially, The Call was a four page paper that sold 2,000 copies per week for a nickel each. Clara continued to help her son by selling subscriptions door-to-door. With the paper growing, Chester purchased the paper’s current building in 1922. By the end of the 1920s, readership was nearly 20,000 papers per week. The Call was one of the largest African American weekly newspapers in the country and one of the largest black-owned businesses in the Midwest!
In the era of big band jazz, Kansas City Monarchs baseball, and the birth of barbeque, The Call told those stories. More importantly, the paper was a political force and a beacon for social change. Franklin endorsed Harry S. Truman in his Senate campaigns. Many credit their unlikely relationship for Truman’s support of civil rights later on. The Call protested against urban development that displaced working class people, fought for equal employment opportunities, successfully campaigned for black people to be included as jurors, and was a strong proponent for the integration of schools.
That last issue was especially personal to columnist Lucille Bluford. A graduate of Lincoln High School and the University of Kansas, Bluford applied to the University of Missouri’s journalism graduate program in 1939. She was initially accepted but denied entry when the school realized she was black. She sued the school and took her case all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court. While she ultimately lost, Bluford helped lay the groundwork that eventually led to the nationwide integration of schools.
Lucille Bluford captained the editor’s desk at The Call for nearly half a century. PHOTO COURTESY OF: Black Archives of Mid-America
When Chester Franklin passed away in 1955, it was “Miss Bluford” who took over the editor’s desk and ownership of The Call for the next fifty years. Under Bluford’s leadership, the paper continued to battle against systemic injustice. Bluford’s editorials encouraged readers to participate in boycotts, vote for black candidates, and support the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The Call covered civil rights leaders and demonstrations. The paper railed against the gentrification of black neighborhoods that led to redlining practices. The Call continued to give an opportunity for black writers to grow and be heard. Other notable The Call alumni were the legendary sportswriter Fay Young, eventual NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins, and television reporter Lena Rivers Smith. Today, The Call continues to showcase great writers, shine a light on the disenfranchised, and report the stories that nobody else will.
It can be discomforting to accept that Kansas City’s major media outlets chose to turn a blind eye as our black community redefined music, art, entertainment, sport, and cuisine for generations to come. At a time when our city was finding its soul, it cried out for that story to be told. Fortunately for us, Chester A. Franklin, Lucille Bluford, and an exceptional group of men and women, answered The Call.
So, What Do I Do Now? Support black-owned business by purchasing a copy of, or subscription to, The Call. You can also visit the Lucille H. Bluford Branch of the Kansas City Public Library which is known for their extensive collection of African American literature.
The Call has been telling the stories of this city from this building, at the corner of Woodland and 18th in KCMO, since 1922.
The People’s Radio Station
Andrew “Skip” Carter (1919 - 1989)
Oftentimes, the best ideas are the simplest ones. In the adolescence of jazz and gospel music, Andrew “Skip” Carter had what seemed like a simple dream. He wanted there to be a radio station that featured the music of black artists. The concept seemed simple enough. However, in a segregated America, a black radio station was unheard of and in many ways, not allowed.
The Georgia native was enthralled with radio from a young age. When Skip was only fourteen, he constructed his first radio set. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Carter moved to New York to study radio engineering. In 1947, Carter earned his Federal Communications Commission (FCC) First Class Engineering License and took a job with WTIP in Charleston, West Virginia. While he worked as a radio engineer, Carter sought out opportunities to own and operate a radio station that featured black music. Time and time again, Carter found that racial attitudes and policies of the day stood in the way of his dream.
“It has long been an established policy of broadcasters … and the [Federal Communications] Commission that the American system of broadcasting must serve significant minorities among our population.”
Frustrated with the contradiction of a Commission that encouraged a diversity of ownership and content on the one hand, while putting clear barriers in place for blacks on the other, Carter penned a letter condemning the FCC. His letter, published in Broadcasting Magazine in 1948, caught the attention of former Kansas governor Alf Landon.
Landon owned four radio stations and decided to hire Carter to run KCLO in Leavenworth. A year later, with Landon’s help, Carter applied for and received his FCC AM broadcast license. Skip Carter was only the second African American to receive one. Then, in 1950, Carter fired up a secondhand transmitter in a small building on Brooklyn Avenue. KPRS, the first black-owned and operated radio station west of the Mississippi River, was born.
After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, “Skip” Carter moved to New York to attend the RCA School of Electronics and New York University.
PHOTO COURTESY OF: HOT 103 JAMZ! Radio
Kansas City People’s Radio Station aired the music of artists such as James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Ray Charles. KPRS provided Kansas City’s Eastside access to contemporary black music while introducing the city’s western half to artists they might not have otherwise heard. Skip’s wife, Mildred, suggested that KPRS apply for an FM license due to the larger bandwidth and range. In 1963, the Carters were granted a 100,000 watt facility and began simulcasting KPRS on AM and FM radio twenty-four hours a day. When Skip passed away in 1989, Mildred became the Chair of the Board for the Carter Broadcasting Group and their grandson, Michael, was put in charge of operations. In recognition of his accomplishments, Andrew “Skip” Carter was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1995.
In spite of mass consolidation of radio stations over the past twenty years, KPRS continues to be owned and operated by the Carter family. Today, the radio station, now known as HOT 103 JAMZ!, is the longest continually African American owned and operated radio station in the country. As one of the city’s most popular stations, HOT 103 JAMZ! has stayed true to Skip’s vision of providing all of Kansas City access to contemporary artists.
So, What Do I Do Now? Tune into the “People’s Radio Station” of course! HOT 103 JAMZ! is still on the airwaves playing Hip-Hop and R&B favorites. For the past decade, KPRS 103.3 FM has been one of Kansas City’s highest rated radio stations.
Without the emergence, and staying power, of Kansas City black-owned media, I would not be in the position I am to share many of these stories. Some of our city’s most iconic figures, who are so prominent today, were invisible in their own time. Papers like The Call and The Kansas City Sun shed light on their stories.
Kansas City’s influence on music cannot be overlooked. African American contributions to music cannot be ignored. Yet, they once were. In the Midwest, KPRS helped bring those artists and their songs into people’s homes.
Today, in the age of gastro-tourism, Kansas City’s calling card is our world-class barbeque. That is likely not the case without Henry Perry’s Garment District pushcart. While black media preserved his stories, Perry still goes largely unrecognized in Kansas City. It is baffling that, in the World Capital of BBQ, there is nothing of note in this city that bears the Father of Kansas City Barbeque’s name. Today, these places all live on, in one way or another, making our city a better place to live.
If you only read these as the stories of individuals and their innovations, you are only getting half the story. The real takeaway here is the longevity and impact. You have just read, but a few of, the tribulations of a symbiote that put our city on the map. As much as it is about the men and women who started these businesses, it is equally about the remarkable black community who supported them and allowed them to flourish. These two bodies gave one another life.
At the end of the day, the common thread that runs through this entire series is the community. Henry Perry, The Call, and KPRS fed the hearts, minds, souls, and bodies of their community. In turn, the community embraced them. The community sustained them. And in time, these businesses, and the black community that supported them, brought our entire city closer together.
Join me next week, as we continue our exploration of Kansas City’s history through the stories of influential black men, women, and entities. Subscribe at the bottom of disKCovery’s home page to be the first to know when Chapter II drops.
Please SIGN THE PETITION to honor Henry Perry! Also, remember to support #BlackOwnedBusiness.
Have a favorite story? Have one you want to hear? Let me hear it in the comments!
Many thanks to my mother, Janell Dignan, for proofreading and editing these stories. I could not have done this without you!
