Local poets launch zine urging Douglas County rename for Frederick Douglass
Two Lawrence poets are using a free zine launch to push a bigger question: whether Douglas County should become Douglass County in honor of Frederick Douglass.
Two Lawrence poets are turning a zine release into a push to rename Douglas County for Frederick Douglass. A.D. Boynton II and Mercedes Lucero will launch American Reclamation at the Raven Book Store on Friday, July 3, pairing the publication with an open mic night.
Boynton and Lucero, members of the Black Literature & Arts Collective of Kansas, created the zine with support from Babbling Bookery. The launch is a partnership with B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence and Babbling Bookery. Open mic sign-ups begin at 6:30 p.m., and the launch is free and open to the public at Raven, 809 Massachusetts St.
The project grows out of an idea Kevin Willmott carried to county government on Feb. 4. Willmott, the Oscar-winning filmmaker and University of Kansas professor emeritus, urged the Douglas County Commission to add a single s to the county’s name, arguing that the county is still tied to Stephen A. Douglas, the Illinois senator whose legacy is bound up with popular sovereignty in Kansas Territory, while Frederick Douglass better fits Lawrence’s Free State and abolitionist identity.
Any formal name change would move from an art project into state politics. Kansas places county names and boundaries in Chapter 18 of its statutes, and the Legislature’s process requires a bill to be introduced, sent to committee, debated in both chambers and approved by majority vote before reaching the governor. Douglas County had 118,785 residents in the 2020 census.
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