By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
A documentary that depicts Nicodemus settlers' 35-mile trek across the harsh Kansas prairie will premiere in Hill City on Saturday.
The first show is at noon Saturday at the Frontier Stage Theater in Hill City. The second showing will follow about an hour and 15 minutes later. A third showing will be at noon on Feb. 24 at the Old Cowtown Museum in Wichita. The showings are free, but you must make a reservation by calling 785-839-4280.
The script for the documentary, "Ellis Trail to Nicodemus, The End of the Journey to the Promise Land," was written by Angela Bates, Nicodemus historian and descendant of the settlers of the last remaining all-black settlement in the United States that was established after Reconstruction.
The film, directed by Wichitan Nick Abt, was shot in Trego County by re-enactors who were also descendants of the Nicodemus settlers.
RELATED STORY: Black settlers' journey to Nicodemus documented in film shot in NW Kansas
"It promises to be emotionally moving," Bates said, "and very educational, and you will get a chance to meet the crew and the cast who participated."
Freed slaves came to Kansas from Kentucky to build new lives in 1878. The settlers took the train to Ellis where they disembarked on foot to the location of the Nicodemus settlement.
The story focuses on Bates' great-grandmother, Emma Williams, who left her husband in Kentucky to travel with her parents, Tom and Zerena Johnson, and her adult siblings, Henry and Ella. Emma was eight months pregnant when she made the trek across the Ellis Trail.
Her husband, Charles Williams, sent her ahead with her parents and siblings, promising to meet Emma in Nicodemus in the spring. As a symbol of this promise, Charles gave Emma a yellow rose to carry with her on her journey.
Emma was afraid she wouldn't see her husband again, which was expressed in the documentary script. Charles joined his wife the following spring in Nicodemus, where they established and grew their family.
The documentary concludes when the settlers arrive in Nicodemus, which is now a National Historic Site.
Bates has been a part of the film from its inception and has seen the completed film.
"It's an A. It will make you cry," she said. "There are things that he did not have to shoot and include in the documentary, so after we do the premieres we are going to go back to the editing board and add in some additional footage, which comes from Kentucky when we did a re-enactment there."
Although Bates did not grow up in Nicodemus, all her relatives are from the community. She moved to the community in 1989, where she spearheaded the effort to have Nicodemus designated as a National Historic Site.
"We don't talk about the African Americans after Emancipation," Bates said. "We go from slavery and Emancipation right into the Civil Rights era.
"The most prolific time for me in African American history is when we were emancipated," she said. "They participated in settling the West. We are overlooked except for the buffalo soldiers."
She said the history of Nicodemus is the history of the region and nation.
"You can't talk about the history of Nicodemus without talking about the history of Hill City," Bates said. "You can't talk about the history of Nicodemus without talking about Bogue, which was a railroad town. You can't talk about Nicodemus without talking about Ellis.
"It didn't happen in a vacuum. It's everybody's history in the area. We are unraveling the connections with those people, and we are making connections with the descendants of those people.
"It's important for all of us who live in the neighborhood — the regional neighborhood, the state neighborhood, the national neighborhood — to know who our neighbors are and how our history interacts with one another."
Bates said she hopes to add more showings of the documentary across the state, including in Hays and at the Nicodemus Historical Site at later dates.