Volume 3, No. 2 (Fall 1999) -- Mexican American Heritage Issue

Researcher seeks descendants of Dunlap Academy students

More than 100 years ago, the Dunlap Academy was established as a school for African American students in Dunlap, Kansas. Researcher Philip Beard is seeking to locate descendants of anyone who attended the academy or who lived in or around Dunlap in the 1880s and 1890s. Beard is writing a history of the academy.

Dunlap is a small town located midway between Council Grove and Emporia. In the late 1870s, Benjamin “Pap” Singleton established a colony of African American immigrants in Dunlap. Soon afterward, other African American families, called “Exodusters,” also settled there.

Among the students who attended the academy were Richard Burks, Carrie Crutcher, Ida Mattox, Preston Mattox, Frank Mayo, Henry Pegg, Martha Renegar, and Mary Renegar. Carrie Crutcher and Ida Mattox also taught in the academy. Beard may be contacted at 735 Illinois, Lawrence, KS 66044, by phone at 785-842-9262, or by e-mail at beardfam@juno.com.