Éabha Klinksick, a 13-year-old West Middle School student heading into eighth grade, competed in the National History Day’s national contest with a project about Womontown, an intentional lesbian community in Kansas City.
Their spoken-word project, “Breaking Ground: Womontown,” won the Celie and Tabitha Niehaus Equality in History Award and was one of 12 projects chosen for a public showcase at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
They had originally qualified for nationals by winning both the district and Kansas state competitions in the Junior Individual Performance Category.
Klinksick said they were drawn to the topic after finding a Moth Radio Hour video about Womontown and realizing it was a history that had been overlooked.
“I really wanted people to know more about it because it was so amazing,” he said.
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He said spoken word was a natural fit because he was inspired by poets such as Amanda Gorman and wanted a format that would be memorable and creative.
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“I thought that spoken-word poetry would be a really fun way to represent Womontown while also making the thing easier to memorize,” he said.
Klinksick described Womontown as an intentional lesbian community in the 1980s, at a time when that wasn’t accepted. She wanted to share that history through a program like National History Day.
“It went unnoticed for so long that I really wanted to bring it to light so that you can see how powerful community is,” she said.
During this project, her research went beyond websites and into interviews with the people who helped build and preserve the community’s history.
“When I actually interviewed the founders, I heard things that I had never found on websites,” Klinksick said.
That included the story of Sue Moreno, the first lesbian of color to join the community. He also spent hours at the GLAMA Archives in Kansas City, where he and his mom went through boxes of historic material for six hours.
“This year, I fully got to embrace being a historian with hands-on research … learning things that I’m going to keep with me for future historical endeavors,” they said.
Klinksick felt the performance format helped connect the story to how Womontown shared its own message.
“They embraced community aspects through poetry and music,” they said. “I really wanted to try to represent that by doing poetry as well.”
She also highlighted a key visual detail of the performance: tulips, which were an important symbol in the neighborhood, signaling a safe place for lesbians.
Klinksick said that Nationals at College Park, Maryland “was a really incredible experience,” adding that performing at the Smithsonian felt especially meaningful because “it felt like a full circle moment that I got to be there and show their story after so long.”
Winning the Equality in History Award made the moment even more special.
“I felt like it was a huge win, not just for me, but for the Womontown community, too,” she said. “Their story finally got recognized in a way that was very public and very cool.”
Klinksick said none of it would’ve been possible without the help of the Womontown founders who were generous with their time; Stuart Hinds at UMKC; documentarian Sandy Woodson; Tracie Lamb and Travis Lamb, who coordinate the Kansas affiliate of National History Day; and his teacher at West, Jessica Miescher-Lerner.
Klinksick said National History Day has become an important part of their school experience and they plan to keep participating. They also hope to get their brother involved as he starts sixth grade next year.
“NHD is definitely hard work, but it’s so worth it when you get to present all of that stuff that you’ve worked for over a year on,” they said.
Klinksick said the broader lesson of the project is about both equality and curiosity.
“I think it’s really important because we need to be as educated as we can be,” he said.
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Courtney Lane (she/her), staff reporter, has worked with The Lawrence Times since April 2026. She can be reached at [email protected].
Read her complete bio here. Read her work for the Times at this link, and see her photography for the Times at this link.
