What would you do if your family’s graves were being sold to make a few bucks? The bravery and determination of Lyda Conley and her sisters Helana and Ida are the stuff of legend, and Chief Judith Manthe of the Wyandot Nation of Kansas is doing her best to keep the story alive.
Manthe first told the story of the Conley sisters’ efforts to save the Huron Cemetery on the debut episode of KCUR’s A People’s History of Kansas City. Inspired by the podcast, playwright Madeline Easley decided to dramatize the Conley sisters’ fight and consulted Manthe for her play Representatives for Those at Peace. Easley’s work debuted at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, where it drew large crowds. Now, a collaboration between the Wyandot Nation of Kansas and public arts group Monumenta is producing a traveling memorial to the Conley sisters’ work called “Trespassers Beware! Fort Conley and Wyandot Women Warriors.”
In 1867, the officially recognized Wyandot tribe was uprooted by the U.S. government and moved from KCK to Oklahoma. Those that chose to remain in their homes had to become United States citizens, forfeiting their rights as tribe members. This classification did little to weaken their identities or their dedication to those that came before them. So, when Lyda heard in 1906 that the Oklahoma Wyandot Nation was selling the Kansas land that included many of her ancestors’ gravesites, she was ready to fight. And fight she did…