On Monday, October 2, 2023, at 6:00 PM on the second floor of the Effingham County Cultural Center and Museum, as the result of a partnership between The Effingham County Museum and the Effingham Public Library, there will be a special presentation,
“Unconquerable: Photos and History of the Kickapoo Indians.”
The Kickapoos were a fiercely independent people, who inhabited this part of Central Illinois when the first Euro-American settlers arrived in the early 1820s. This presentation will cover their movements across the prairie, their lifeways, their interactions with early settlers, and their forced removal to reservations west of the Mississippi River.
This presentation will also include rare 1906 photographs of Kickapoo living in Brown County, Kansas. These photographs were commissioned by Milo Custer, an early curator of the McLean County Historical Society. Bill Kemp of the McLean County Historical Society is the presenter. He has served as Librarian/Archivist for the McLean County Museum of History since 2003. In December 2005, he began penning a local history column published in each Sunday’s Pantagraph. This “Page from Our Past” column quickly gained popularity and garnered attention for the Museum. The Effingham Public Library and Effingham County Cultural Center and Museum have partnered to bring local history programs to Effingham. Effingham Public Library Director, Amanda McKay says, “The Museum is right across the street from the Library, so it makes a lot of sense for us to partner and provide local history programs. We have heard from many in the community who have been asking for more. We are delighted to partner with the Museum and bring programs like this one to our community.”