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Richard T Coles is buried alongside his wife, Ritchie Cooper Coles

Richard Thomas Coles founded vocational schools

Richard T Coles (1859-1930

On February 12, 1909, the Highland Cemetery Company purchased a 29-acre tract of land on the outskirts of Kansas City from John and Frances Eames. The land cost $15,000. [1] Several months later, Sallie Powell was buried in Highland Cemetery, becoming the first person interred there. [2] In the cemetery’s landscaping and the layout of its curved roads, it was similar to many other early-twentieth century cemeteries, which were known as “perpetual care” cemeteries because they required constant maintenance, from tending gravestones to mowing grass to caring for other forms of vegetation, and therefore needed enough income to support this steady upkeep. But Highland Cemetery was different from other Kansas City cemeteries in one critical way: at the time it was built, it was the only private cemetery open to African American people. By 1964, when legal segregation in Kansas City came to an end, it was one of three cemeteries to serve the area’s Black population.In the early 1900s, the cemetery flourished. Charles A. Reece served as an early sexton. [3] Between 1909 and 1950, more than 11,000 people were buried there. [4] Among them were civil rights activists, community leaders, newspaper owners, jazz singers, cooks, veterans, teachers, and deliverypeople. For many of their families, buying a gravesite and burying a relative or friend was not only emotionally devastating, but also financially challenging. African American churches helped defray funeral and burial costs with burial societies, in addition to more general forms of economic support and solidarity.With the end of segregated cemeteries, fewer and fewer people were buried at Highland, which was also running out of room—and money. The funds that churches raised to pay for burials often went to previously all-white cemeteries as more of their congregants were buried there.Every so often, however, someone would want to be buried near family. They would call on Bill Enloe, a gravedigger who started work when he was 12 years old, around 1950. Enloe had taken care of the cemetery for decades, laboring—quite literally—under the impression that he owned part of the land. What paperwork there was to document his ownership is gone, and the cemetery is now owned by the Land Trust of Jackson County, which took over the property when it fell behind on taxes. Taxes weren’t the only thing the cemetery could no longer afford: the constant upkeep needed to maintain the cemetery cost money, too. The cemetery became overgrown and run-down. In 2014, a journalist said of it, “People dump trash nearby. Tombstones sit cockeyed, and stray cats run about the brush. The roads through Highland Cemetery are gutted, and dead limbs hang from trees.” [5]Recently, inspired by news coverage of the cemetery’s dilapidated condition, students from local schools worked to clean up the cemetery, scrubbing tombstones with toothbrushes and weed whacking grass that grew higher than their heads. [6] Here are some of the names they may have come across:<ul><li>Fredericka Douglass Sprague Perry, granddaughter of Frederick Douglass. Perry taught home economics at Lincoln High School before founding the Colored Big Sister Home for Girls to care for at-risk African American girls. These young people otherwise would have been sent to institutions for juvenile delinquents: at the time, the local orphanage released girls at age 12, and while homes were found for white girls, the same was not true for Black girls. [7]</li><li>William “Pat” Patrick, who in 1920 was “the only official bartender the Kansas City Club ever had in the thirty-six years of its existence.” The Kansas City Club was an all-white gentlemen’s club founded in the nineteenth century. Though visitors to the club, according to the notice of his death published in the Kansas City Star, thought Patrick was perhaps a “Spaniard or Italian,” he was neither, and he was buried in Highland Park in March 1920. [8]</li><li>Bennie Moten, a renowned jazz pianist and bandleader who contributed to the distinctive sound of Kansas City jazz until his death in 1935.</li></ul>

For close to six decades, Highland Cemetery served as one of three private cemeteries open to African Americans in Kansas City. Established in 1909, it became the final resting place for more than 11,000 people before 1950. Among them were Bennie Moten, the famous jazz pianist; civil rights activist Daniel Arthur Holmes; granddaughter of Frederick Douglass, Fredericka Douglass Prague Sperry; and thousands more. When, in 1964, segregated cemeteries were made illegal, the resources that had maintained Highland Cemetery (through payment for burials) flowed instead to previously white cemeteries. Highland Cemetery fell into disrepair, though recent efforts by local students have attempted to clean up the cemetery and honor the many people interred there.

Born 14 February 1901 in Kansas City, MO, Frank Duncan started his professional with the Chicago Giants in 1920 before going to the K. C. Monarchs at the end of the 1921 season. He would end his stellar career the Monarchs until 1945 with some stints with the New York Cubans, New York Black Yankees, Pittsburgh Crawfords, Homestead Grays, Satchel Paige All-Stars, and the Chicago American Giants, where he made his only East-West All-Star appearance in 1938.An outstanding receiver with a powerful throwing arm, he caught two no-hitters in 1923 and 1929. Duncan also appeared in two Negro World Series, as a player in 1942 and as a manager in 1946, losing to the Newark Eagles four games to three.“It was like clockwork pitching to that man. I guess I could throw harder than anybody. I musta could throw hard because nobody ever hit me hard. But Frank was the man who kept me going,” said Satchel Paige. He added, “Frank was one of the top men, the No. 1 as a manager. He knew how to handle men and no maybe-so about it. He never did get up in the air about nothing.”Speedster and renown base stealer James “Cool Papa” Bell recalled, “he could throw . . . you had to get a bigger lead on the pitcher with Frank behind the plate. If you didn’t, you might as well turn right around and go back to first. Nobody could hardly beat him throwing.”After the 1947 season, Duncan turned over managerial duties to Buck O’Neil, and became an umpire in the Negro American League.

Frank Lee Duncan, Jr., was an outstanding catcher and manager for the Kansas City Monarchs. In 1941, his son Frank Duncan III joined the team, and they became the first father-and-son battery in major league baseball. In 1945, as Monarchs manager, Duncan became Jackie Robinson’s first manager in professional baseball. For a time, he was married to Blues and jazz singer Julia Lee, At the age of 72, Duncan passed away on 4 December 1973 in Kansas City, Missouri, and buried in Highland Cemetery.

Frank Duncan (1901-1973)

Born in Boonville, Missouri, Lee attended Lincoln High School where she met husband Frank Duncan, a catcher and manager of the Kansas City Monarchs. Duncan was Jackie Robinson's manager in 1945, Robinson's only year in the Negro Leagues. Lee began her musical career soon after, singing and playing piano in her brother George Lee's band, which featured saxophonist Charlie Parker at times. She first recorded on the Merritt record label in 1927 with Jesse Stone as pianist and arranger and launched a solo career in 1935. She was known not only for her talent and husky voice, but for her ability to author mildly suggestive lyrics that utilized double entendres such as "Come On Over to My House" with Jay McShann's ‘Kansas City Stompers’ and other hits like "King Size Papa," and "Snatch and Grab It" The records were credited to 'Julia Lee and Her Boy Friends' and her session musicians included Vic Dickenson, Benny Carter, Red Norvo, Jay McShann, Nappy Lamare, Red Nichols and Jack Marshall.   Lee was known for her husky, throaty voice and called by the local media the "Princess of the Boogie Woogie." In 1949, at the invitation of President Harry S Truman, the Princess, along with drummer Baby Lovett, played at the White House. While most Kansas City musicians found success by touring, Lee preferred to stay in the city she loved and became one of the most popular performers in Kansas City's history until her death in Kansas City, at the age of 56, from a heart attack. Their son, Frank Duncan, Jr., of Detroit, Michigan, was the only survivor and can be heard talking about his mother in the podcast by KCUR linked below.

Kansas City jazz icon Julia Lee built a national reputation as one of the greatest blues singers, but she was best known locally, where she was a mainstay of Miltion's and other Kansas City establishments on 12th Street. Lee got her start playing piano and singing in her brother George E. Lee's Orchestra from 1920 to 1934. With a strong local following and a handful of hits, Lee produced a four-volume album with Capitol Records in 1944. While most musicians of the era traveled nationally, Julia Lee preferred to perform for local audiences in Kansas City where she earned a reputation not only for being a talented performer but for remembering the favorite songs of her regulars.

Julia Lee (1902-1958)

Moten's reputation as a good-natured bandleader helped him attract the best musicians, including a young Count Basie. Their orchestra developed and refined Kansas City’s unique style of blues-driven and hard-swinging jazz, spreading the new sound through nearly 100 recordings produced for the Okey and Victor recording labels. In addition to his ability to lead, Moten excelled at the business of music. He cultivated support from political boss Tom Pendergast and leveraged the relationship to make sure his band played the best gigs across the city, even at venues owned by white promoters. In 1935, his band traveled to Denver, Colorado, to begin an engagement. Moten remained behind to undergo a routine tonsillectomy. Unfortunately, there were post operative complications upon his return to Kansas City. He would pass away at Wheatley-Provident Hospital at 1826 Forest Avenue in Kansas City, MO. Moten is buried in Highland Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri

Benjamin “Bennie” Moten was an influential pianist and bandleader whose career was essential to the development of Kansas City-style jazz. Moten grew up in Kansas City and took up the piano at an early age, learning his craft from two of Scott Joplin’s former students. He attended Lincoln High School but left before graduating to pursue a career in music and, in 1918, joined two fellow entertainers in forming the B.B.&amp;D. Orchestra. He put together the Bennie Moten Orchestra four years later.

Bennie Moten

Thomas C. Unthank was born on 15 March 1866 in Greensboro, North Carolina. He enrolled at Howard University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. in 1894. Dr. Unthank graduated in 1898 and moved to Kansas City, Missouri. He opened Lange Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, and co-founded, with Dr. S. H. Thompson, Douglass Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas.In 1903 a devastating flood hit Kansas City. Hundreds of people were injured or sick, and all hospitals were overcrowded with the wounded. Convention Hall, in downtown Kansas City, became a makeshift hospital. The building was divided into sections, with one area exclusively for minorities. Dr. Unthank was called upon to care for those victims. As a result of the flood crisis, Dr. Unthank began a crusade to develop a municipal hospital solely to serve the minority community. White physicians and city leaders showed little interest in his proposal. Dr. Unthank eventually overcame the indifference and prejudice shown by city officials and the white medical community. He persuaded the city to allow the old General Hospital to become the “colored division” when white patients were moved to a new, modern facility in 1908.The building was renamed General Hospital No. 2. This was the first public hospital used exclusively for minority citizens in the United States. In 1930, a new hospital replaced the older structure. Dr. Unthank spent much of his life helping his community. Through his efforts, a county home for elderly Black citizens was established and a park and recreational area for Black residents of Kansas City was built.Although the City decided during the late 1950s to consolidate the two hospitals, Truman Medical Center has served as the City’s public hospital since the early 1970s. While neither of the buildings that housed General Hospital #2 remain today, the neighborhood has retained the moniker “Hospital Hill.”Thomas C. Unthank, M.D., died on 29 November 1932, at the age of 66 and was interred in Highland Cemetery.

Dr. Thomas C. Unthank was instrumental in creating opportunities for Black doctors to serve the inner city and established medical facilities. As a physician and activist, he rose to prominence as a doctor and is known as the “Father of Kansas City’s Negro Hospitals.” In July of 1933, in honor of his life-long commitment to attaining a better standard of living for Kansas City’s African American community, a bust of Dr. Unthank was unveiled in front of General Hospital No. 2.

Thomas C. Unthank (1866-1932)

Born in Macon, Missouri in 1876, Rev. Holmes was a passionate leader not only in the church but in the community. He was respected for his work in political and social affairs, especially as he was able to connect white and Black religious leaders on issues of race and culture. From 1921 to 1967, he served as the pastor of Paseo (Vine Street) Baptist Church

Daniel Arthur Holmes (1876-1972)

After graduating from public schools, he entered the progressive Oberlin College (near Cleveland, Ohio), one of the first U.S. colleges to admit persons of color and women, and well known as a center for antislavery activities. Tillman continued his studies at the Wayland Seminary in Washington, D.C.A proficient bass singer, Tillman traveled extensively with the New Orleans University singers and later with the Don Tennesseans, a group that performed in the White House. He performed in Kansas City in 1880 and opened a restaurant here in 1881.Tillman married Amy Lucia Dodds and started a family at 17th Street and Lydia Avenue and worked as a barber downtown. He opened his six-chair barbershop for white patrons at 12th and Grand in 1889. In his spare time Tillman studied law was commissioned as a Notary Public in 1894. He enrolled in the Kansas City School of Law in 1896 but left to fight in the Spanish-American War in 1898, reaching the rank of Quarter-Master Sergeant in Company “K” of the 7th Regiment of the United States Volunteers.After returning home, he was appointed by President William McKinley as a First Lieutenant in the Philippines with the Forty-Ninth Volunteer Infantry. After serving for two years in Luzon, Tillman returned permanently to Kansas City. In appreciation of his patriotic service, a group of prominent white citizens secured a position for him on the police force.Tillman served as a Kansas City’s third Black police officer, after William F. Davis and Robert Alexander, until his death from an intestinal disease on 3 October 1914. He was buried in Highland Cemetery. He was survived by a son and two daughters who also took up successful careers. His son, L. M. Tillman, went on to serve as a medical doctor at Wheatley-Provident Hospital, which was the first hospital in Kansas City to cater specifically to Black patients. His daughters became schoolteachers in Kansas City and in Tipton, Missouri.Upon his death in 1914, he was one of the oldest (at 56) policemen serving on the force. He was buried with full military honors suitable to his service to his city and country. It was rare for a Black person to be hired for such a position before World War I. By 1920, although the city had about 10,000 Black residents, with only 11 police officers, one detective, and one fireman of African descent.According to Dr. Pellom McDaniels III, “There can be no doubt that Lafayette Alonzo Tillman’s life was filled with individual success and achievements. Through the Tillman Collection (at the Kansas City Museum on 3218 Gladstone Blvd.) we can see a shining example of manhood, citizenship and patriotism at one time believed impossible to achieve by African American men.”

Lafayette Alonzo Tillman was born 15 March 1858, in Evansville, Indiana, to Thomas and Harriet Tillman, and would go on to become one of the exceptional Black leaders in Kansas City by the turn of the twentieth century. His legacy is mostly known has one of the first African American citizens to be appointed to the Kansas City police force. Tillman was a pillar of the community operating a barber shop, providing legal services and managing a restaurant.

Lafayette Tillman (1858-1914)

The boy's father, John D. Watkins, died when Theron Watkins was five years old. His mother, Martha Lyons Watkins, moved Theron , his brother, John T., and two sisters a few miles south to Carthage, Indiana. Watkins worked his way through Indiana State University in Terre Haute and received his degree in political economy.Watkins described by one contemporary as a gifted orator, served on the original board of directors at Perry’s Sanitarium and in 1913. Watkins motivated countless individuals to commit their time and funds to community projects, including the city clean-up campaign of 1940, fundraising for construction of The Paseo branch of the YMCA, before World War I. After the war, his service to the medical community continued in 1921 as a board director at Wheatley Provident Hospital.In 1941, he became the only African American appointed to the newly organized Kansas City Housing Authority, and during World War II he served on the Selective Service Board. In 1944, Watkins unsuccessfully ran for the Missouri legislature. T. B. Watkins died 4 September 1950, at the age of 63, shortly before the new Watkins Brothers funeral parlor at Eighteenth and Benton Boulevard was completed. He is buried in Highland Cemetery, KCMO.Notable local sites related to Watkins include the Theron B. Watkins Housing Complex at 12th and Woodland (built in 1952); the Watkins Court (built in 1960) at 1316-1328 Forest Avenue; and his last residence at 2506 Benton Boulevard.

Beginning in 1909, John T Watkins (known at "J.T.") and his brother Theron (known as T.B.") Watkins founded the Watkins Brothers Funeral Home at 1729 Lydia Avenue. The funeral home later moved to 18th Street and Benton Boulevard, and finally at 4000 Emmanuel Cleaver II Boulevard. T. B. Watkins was the first African American appointed to a draft board in Kansas City and was a co-founder of the Gateway Athletic Association, a youth sports organization. T.B. Watkins was also the stepfather of powerful and influential Black political leader Bruce Watkins.

T. B. Watkins (1887-1960) and John T Watkins (1873-1917)

In 1919, Chester Arthur Franklin established The Kansas City Call which would become the leading African American newspaper in the city.

Chester A. Franklin  (1880-1955) 

Born in Atlanta in the mid 1880s, Ada Crogman graduated college in Boston and worked as a teacher where she authored a stage production dedicated to African American history and culture. While the show she authored was touring, she met Kansas City Call publisher Chester Franklin and the pair married in 1925. The Franklins operated the Call for years and Ada Cogman Franklin took over leadership of the paper when her husband passed away in 1955. Until her death in 1983, Ada Cogman Franklin served as the publisher of the Call.

Ada Crogman Franklin

A granddaughter of Frederick Douglass, Fredericka Douglass Sprague Perry taught at Lincoln University and married physician John Edward Perry in 1912. John Perry founded Kansas City's Wheatley-Provident Hospital and Fredricka established the Missouri State Association of Colored Girls and Kansas City's Colored Big Sister Home for Girls in 1934.

Highland Cemetery (Kansas City, MO)

Richard T Coles (1859-1930

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