Celebrating the Steptoe Neighborhood in Music and Photos

The story of the Steptoe neighborhood will be told in photographs, music, and stories in a new exhibit at the Westport Center for the Arts, 201 Westport Road. The exhibit opens Jan. 10 at 6 p.m. with a reception and will be on display for the Dr. Martin Luther King concert on Jan. 15.

Although most of the buildings in Midtown Kansas City’s former African American Steptoe neighborhood have been demolished, a group of former residents and other stakeholders called Steptoe Lives has been working to commemorate the community, which included more than 100 homes, two churches, and the Penn School, the oldest school for African American students west of the Mississippi. The Steptoe neighborhood centered around 43rd Street Terrace and Pennsylvania Avenue just south of Westport. After the Civil War, it became a unique place in Kansas City where formerly enslaved people could live and buy property. (The Westport Presbyterian Church is one of the founding members of Steptoe Lives).

The exhibit features photos gathered from archives and former residents that trace the beginning of the neighborhood, the memories of former residents, and plans that are underway for a park to celebrate the neighborhood and the Penn School. It includes never-before-seen photos of Penn school students, neighborhood families and newspaper clipping about the neighborhood. The exhibit also spotlights many of the homes that made up Steptoe and the families that lived in them.

The opening reception on Jan. 10 at 6 p.m. will feature a mix of music and storytelling from former residents of Steptoe. A musical group called “A Step Above the Plaza” will perform songs reflecting Steptoe history, and members of the group who grew up in the neighborhood will share memories.

“People in Kansas City are just starting to learn about the important history of Steptoe and what made the neighborhood so special,” Leah Russell Suttington, a former resident and a member of the musical group, said. “We want to keep the memories alive and make sure they get passed down to the next generation. The reception will be a mix of music from each period of history and stories about the time.”

Host or Publisher Steptoe Lives