Press Release: Bias Busters of Kansas: Emergency Call/Protest

Press Release       This is an Emergency Call for our community to come together and make a statement regarding the April 20th Oil Spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. As you know the company responsible for this debacle is BP (British Petroleum).  Since April 20th, we have witnessed numerous attempts to curtail the "rush" and "leaking" of oil.   While Congress has heard from the fishing industry and the impact of that this disaster as made on their ability to feed their families and President Obama has visited the area; it is our collective responsibility to voice our concerns about the state of our planet…and more importantly what we pledge to do to change our dependency on oil.   It is imperative that we right this wrong and do our part to heal the world; we can make a change and a difference by adopting better behaviors in our homes, at our work place, etc. We must be vigilant to call on stronger legislation and join in the effort to have more gardens in our communities, on our rooftops, promote recycling and create more wind power and solar energy.   Past incidents and disasters including September 11th and Hurricane Katrina have shown us that communities must be prepared for manmade and natural disasters.   If you are interesed in this issue, then we urge you to join us this coming Tuesday, June 22nd at 5:00pm in front of the The BP Station at 21st & Fairlawn. The public is invited to participate . If you have information that you want to share about this issue, please respond in kind.   For More information call Sonny Scroggins 785 232-3761, 845-6138….   I Challenge my Generation to Inspire Future Generations.   Yours in Christ, Sonny Scroggins

An Historical Moment – 1st Kansas Colored: James Whitfield Ross is the first American of African descent from the Civil War Era to be inducted into the Kansas National Guard

Sen. James H. Lane began organizing the First Kansas Colored in August 1862. They fought in several Civil War battles, including the Battle of Honey Springs on July 17, 1863. Towards the end of the Civil War, the First Kansas Colored soldiers disbanded and some joined the ranks of the Buffalo Soldiers (Rough Riders). According to Scroggins, the First Kansas Colored fought the battle just outside the back door of his childhood home in Chectoah Oklahoma. Beginning in 1996, Scroggins has reenacted the role of James Whitfield Ross, a First Kansas Colored soldier, and other Civil War Figures. He even represented the First Kansas Colored as a flag bearer at a 1998-dedication ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. That same year, state legislators passed a resolution endorsing the idea of a mural of the First Kansas Colored at the Capitol. In 2010, the First Kansas Colored mural will be added to the walls of the State Capitol. Kansas Statue regarding the Mural for the 1st Kansas Colored: 75-2264. Plans for mural in the capitol honoring the 1st Kansas (Colored) Voluntary Infantry regiment. (a) The Kansas state historical society and the department of administration shall develop plans to place a mural in the capitol honoring the 1st Kansas (Colored) Voluntary Infantry regiment. Such plans shall be developed in consultation with the joint committee on arts and cultural resources. (b) On or before January 1, 2002, the plans developed pursuant to subsection (a) shall be submitted to the joint committee on arts and cultural resources. History: L. 2000, ch. 110, § 4; July 1.

The movie Glory is a Civil War movie depicting the 54^th Massachusetts soldiers as the first Americans of African descent to fight in the Civil War. Upon watching Glory, I was astonished that this regiment was listed as the first to serve in the Civil war. I wanted to set the record straight. According to history, the 1^st Kansas Colored was the first black regiment to fight in the Civil War beginning in October 1862. Their most famous Battle was the Battle of  Honey Spring, July 17, 1863 near present day Checotah, Okla.The 54^th Massachusetts first fought in the War beginning in May 1863.

As a Civil War re-enactor, I was privileged to help set the record straight in several ways. During the dedication of the Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C., Sonny Scroggins portrayed Sergeant Will Smith of the First Kansas Colored Voluntary Infantry and appeared as a Flag Bearer for the Regiment at Arlington National Cemetery in the Grand Parade and on the Today Show with Matt Lauer.

By bringing into focus the service of the 1^st Kansas Colored soldiers, since 1996 Scroggins has portrayed and made appearances as James Whitfield Ross.  after meeting his family in washington, dc, as a member of the First Kansas Colored regiment. Mr. Ross, a Kansan, escaped slavery seven times, and then later joined the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment. After release from the military, Ross worked as a mason on the construction of the Kansas Capitol.

In 2006, I appeared as James Whitfield Ross and carried the Kansas Flag during the Westport Civil War Cannon Dedication Ceremony in Kansas City, Missouri and presented the Honorable Mayor of Kansas City, Kay Barnes, with a postmarked official Cachet Envelope from the 1998 unveiling of the African American Civil War Memorial Ceremony in Washington, D.C.

The Kansas Fever Committee/Bias Buster of Kansas lobbied for desegregation of the Kansas Statehouse Walls and Placement of a mural in the Kansas Capitol honoring the 1st Kansas (Colored) Voluntary Infantry, of which the Honorable James Henry Lane was the leader and recruiter of the troops. The placement of the mural was approved by the Kansas Legislature and is scheduled to be in place in 2010.

Every life should be celebrated and every loss of life should be remembered as a tribute to their families, loved ones, friends and community. I would like to thank you, the Committee, in advance for honoring the service and dedication of James Whitfield Ross for his untiring effort in the name of freedom for all to be inducted into the Kansas National Guard Hall of Fame November 8, 2009. James Whitfield Ross is the first American of African descent from the Civil war to be inducted into the Kansas National Guard. Because of his induction, I equate this honor to the color barrier being broken by Jackie Robinson when he was the first American of African descent to be signed to play professional baseball in the national league.

Special thanks to Dr. Herschel and Jacque Stroud, Dr. Robert Starling Pritchard, Chairman of the Panamerican-Panafrican Association; Dr. Ronald Myers, National Juneteenth Board Meeting & Conference, the citizens of Checotah and Rentiesville, Oklahoma, and Ypsilanti, Michigan, the SweatFree_Baseball_Campaign Community of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,  Honorable Sergeant Majors Steve Rodina and Debbie Carlson, Kansas National Guard; the Whitfield-Ross family, the Kansas and Oklahoma History departments, the late Wichitian Historian Leonard Garrett, the 54th Massachusetts re-enactors, former Mayor of Washington, D.C., Marion Barry, and former NFL Football Player Tracy L. Scroggins.

Sonny Scroggins as James Whitfield Ross will appear at the late Grant Cushinberry‘s 88^th birthday party on October 24, 2009 at 2 pm in Cushinberry Park on 15^th and Madison; at Kansas National Guard Induction Ceremony on November 8, 2009 (time) at the Historic Downtown Ramada Inn located in historic downtown Topeka; On November 11, 2009 at 11 am., Whitfield Ross will appear at the Downtowner Restaurant with Ross’ great-granddaughter Mary Brooks in celebration of Veteran’s day.

James Whitfield Ross Biography

“Born near Vicksburg Virginia around 1835, Corporal Ross was sold away from his mother as a small child. Sold as a slave seven times, he ran away from his slave master at Tipton Missouri in 1862 and fell in with a regiment of Union Soldiers on their way to Topeka, Ks. He enlisted in Company "F" of the 1^st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry.
The First Kansas Colored Regiment was the first African American unit to engage the Confederates in the Civil War. Their valor and success at the battle of Island Mound Missouri on 29 October 1862 convinced President Lincoln to proceed with the Emancipation Proclamation and allow Black Troops to join the Union Army. The regiment is credited with seeing action at Sherwood, Missouri, Cabin Creek (Cherokee Nation), Honey Springs, Indian Territory, and Lawrence, Kansas, etc. The regiment is also credited with saving Mound City Kansas from being ransacked by the Missouri "Bush- Whackers.”
In January 1863 Ross was promoted to Corporal when his unit became the 79^th Regiment, United States Colored Troops (USCT). Corporal Ross survived over three years in a regiment that lost more soldiers than any other USCT regiment.

As a free man living in Topeka, he helped quarry the stone for the basement and interior of the Kansas State Capitol building. He married Margaret Elizabeth Chapman in 1868. The family farmed in North Topeka until 1886, then on a 92 acre farm in Mound city. They relocated to Olathe Kansa in 1902 where Cpl Ross served as Deacon of the Apostolic Aid Society in the Second Baptist Church. He was a member of the Franklin Post of the GAR. He passed away on March 11, 1926.

Cpl Ross is indeed a hero of the National Guard and role model for all to look up to. The intestinal and mental fortitude exhibited by him to escape the bonds of slavery, and then serve his state and country bravely and honorably on the field of battle is a tribute to this great man and many other unsung heroes of our Colored regiments. He helped build the state after the war as a free model citizen, farmer, and church leader.” (Sergeant Majors Steve Rodina, Kansas National Guard).

I Challenge my Generation to Inspire Future Generations.

Yours in Christ,  Sonny Scroggins