History Brunch: A Contribution to Victory: Western University's Vocational Training Program for WWI
Date/Time
3/22/2025 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Central
Event Description
Join us for a special history presentation. The Frontier Army Museum invites you enjoy some light breakfast refreshments while learning about history.
This event is Free. To access post please obtain a visitor pass online: https://home.army.mil/.../all-services/gate-information
Presentation Topic: Western University was an educational institution that trained and educated predominately African American students in Quindaro, Kansas, from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. Quindaro is located approximately 30 miles south east of Fort Leavenworth.
This presentation examines the university’s contributions to the U.S. Army from 1917 to 1918 during World War I. The examination includes a brief synopsis of the origins of Western University, its educational contributions to the local community before the war, the U.S. Government vocational training program, the U.S. Army’s involvement in the vocational program, the impact of the war on civilian students on Western’s campus, and finally Western’s significant contribution to the war effort through its involvement in the vocational program. This examination will support Western University’s little-known claim to the Governor of Kansas in 1918 that it was one of the best educational institutions in the nation not only for its academic achievements but also for its simultaneous contribution to victory training U.S. Army soldiers in its vocational training program.
About the speaker:
Bernard Harris, Ph.D., is an adult education historian serving as an Instructional Systems Specialist (Quality Assurance) at the Center for Army Leadership (CAL) at Fort Leavenworth. His dissertation reflects his research interests in adult education and history titled The Education and Training of Seven African American U.S. Army Officers for World War I and its Aftermath. Additional examples of his work can be found in the Ethnic and Racial Minorities in the U.S. Military: An Encyclopedia; a co-authored book titled Savannah 1779; and in adult education articles focused on flipped classrooms, accreditation, and assessments, published by the Association for Business Simulation and Experiential Learning (ABSEL). He also wrote the article “Jim Crow in Kansas: African American Life during the Era of Segregation” published in A Journal of the Central Plains (Volume 45, Number 2 | Summer 2022). His most recent work is a co-authored article, “Leader Presence and Its Impact on Organizational Climate” in the Journal of Military Learning, Army University Press (2023) and a Leader Up podcast about the same article.
To access post please obtain a visitor pass online up to 10 days before the event: https://home.army.mil/.../visitor.../gate-information
The Fort Leavenworth Online Visitor Registration Portal is open for business. We are no longer issuing paper visitor passes. They are now all virtual. A “pass” will be attached to the visitor’s ID in our security scanning system. Visitors may still use our Visitor Center or the new online portal. Here are some tips for the system.
Click the following link from a computer or mobile device: https://pass.aie.army.mil/?b=usa&i=fort_leavenworth&t=v
Fill in your personal information and visit details. You cannot register more than 10 days in advance. You’ll be notified via text message if your visitor pass is approved, or if you should go to the Visitor Center to request access. When you arrive at the gate, you must present the same driver’s license or passport you registered with online.
Contact the Visitor Control Center (VCC) at 913-684-3600 with questions.
Location
Frontier Army Museum 100 Reynolds Ave. Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027 UNITED STATES