Morning in Nicodemus

In 1879 three siblings -- Virgil, Marcus, and Liberty Lander -- are homesteading 160 acres in Nicodemus, an all Black community in northwestern Kansas. Not prairie fires, cyclones, droughts, winter blizzards, loneliness, snakes, bugs, or harassment of a neighbor discourage them as they anticipate the time when their sharecropper parents from Kentucky can join them. In their crude sod house surrounded by mile of virgin prairie, they experience the responsibilities and the successes of real freedom as they develop their potentials and pursue their dreams.

Ellen Gray Massey Ellen Gray Massey (1922 - 2014) published numerous articles, short stories, essays, and books in her 92 years. After retiring from teaching in Lebanon, Missouri, she had given 428 talks---120 of them to the Missouri Humanities Council. In 1995 she was inducted into the Writers Hall of Fame of America and her writing has received numerous other awards. From 1973 to 1983 she directed high school students who published Bittersweet, the Ozark Quarterly.