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In the mid-1850s, Kansas Territory, the wilderness west of Missouri, opened for settlement. As free soil and proslavery emigrants poured into Kansas, a fierce struggle ensued over the volatile issue of slavery. The Kansas Territorial Experience, an online public book discussion series and accompanying credit course, celebrates the KT sesquicentennial by capturing the tensions and extraordinary experiences of that era. Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Englishman in Kansas, John Brown: The Legend Revisited, and The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton--two novels and two works of nonfiction--are the books discussed.
www.kuce.org 
This book discussion series is partially funded by the Kansas Humanities Council. In June 2004 the KHC will present "Bleeding Kansas: Where the Civil War Began," a Kansas Chautauqua featuring six historical figures who will engage Kansans in thoughtful examination of our history and its legacy. For more information, go to www.kansashumanities.org.
These online discussions on the Kansas Territorial Experience replicate discussions held at the Lawrence, Kansas, Public Library in fall 2003. 