06/04/2026
Four African American sisters from the Minnis family pose for a studio portrait taken by William R. Gray in St. John, Kansas around 1910–1912. Their family was part of an early Black homesteading community in Stafford County dating to the 1870s. Three of the sisters lived, raised families, died, and were buried in St. John. They wear elegant Edwardian fashions, including high-collared white shirtwaists, long dark walking skirts, and oversized embellished hats. The photograph is part of a larger visual record of Black family life, settlement, and belonging in Kansas after emancipation and migration westward.