The African-American community of Nicodemus was settled in 1877 as part of the westward migration of blacks from Kentucky after the Civil War. This drawing was an illustration for Whittemore’s book Historic Kansas: A Centenary Sketchbook, published by the University of Kansas in 1954. A native Kansan who grew up in Topeka, Whittemore had a longstanding interest in historic Kansas sites, producing numerous images in the late 1930s for the Works Progress Administration, for use in schools across the state. 

The Chapman Center for Rural Studies, part of Kansas State University’s Department of History, and the K-State Department of American Ethnic Studies offer undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to do research on small Kansas communities like Nicodemus.