Through song and poetry, African American residents with a connection to the Steptoe Neighborhood paid tribute to a once-thriving neighborhood on Sunday.
The gathering in conjunction with Father’s Day ahead of Juneteenth was to commemorate one of the neighborhood’s oldest living fathers, Larnell Johnson.
“The Steptoe neighborhood was one of the first African American neighborhoods,” said Leah Suttington, who grew up in the neighborhood. “It was one of the first places that that happened in Kansas City.”
The neighborhood sits just east of Westport near St.Luke’s Hospital.
Suttington’s roots in the Steptoe Neighborhood date back to 1895. Her grandfather built a few homes in the area that have since been built over…