American Studies Commons^™

Autobiography Of George Washington Owens: First African American Graduate Of Kansas State University, Anthony R. Crawford

Special Publications

George Washington Owens was the son of former slaves who migrated to Kansas in the early 1870s to find free land, finally settling in Wabaunsee County, Kansas, near Alma. It was there that he was born in 1875. In his handwritten autobiography, Owens chronicles the difficulties and successes of working hard growing up on the plains and as a student at District School #3 of Alma, and then at Kansas State Agricultural College. After learning that no African American had graduated from KSAC (now Kansas State University), “he resolved to be the first.” He did so, graduating in 1899. Owens …

Nebraska Cattle Brands, Federal Writers' Project

Special Collections

Compiled by the Federal Writers' Project in Nebraska

"Nebraska cattlemen have more than 13,000 brands registered with the Division of Live Stock Brands in the Secretary of State's OFfice.

All the brands are a part of the folklore of the state, since their designs were originated by the stockmen themselves...Regardless of whether the brand design was made into a romantic flourish of the setting sun, or into a simple initial, it became a trademark and thing of pride for its owner. So all these cattle brands, apart from their practical worth in the stock business, have an aura of romance …