Nicodemus Historic District, Nicodemus, Graham County, Kansas. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) A few years after the Civil War ended, promoters determined to establish an all-black town on the Kansas frontier took out an ad in a Kentucky bulletin promising membership in “The Largest Colored Colony in America” for a small down payment: “All Colored People that want to go to Kansas, on September 5th, 1877, Can do so for $5.00.” The bulletin explained those wanting to join this new colony, which would be called Nicodemus , “can do so by paying the sum of one dollar ($1.00), and this money is to be paid by the first of September, 1877, in installments of twenty-five cents at a time, or otherwise as may be desired.” Hundreds of black people from Kentucky took up the call and set off for the new colony in Kansas, traveling with the promise of a new and better life. One of the settlers, Willianna Hickman, joined 300 people leaving Kentucky for Nicodemus in 187...