OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — The McCallop family display at the Johnson County Museum tells a story of high achievement, but family member Harriett Taylor says there are life lessons even a display can't capture.
Taylor comes from a long line of high achievers.
She is also married to one — Taylor first reached out about doing a story on her husband, the only Black Chick-fil-A store operator in Kansas.
Taylor's great-grandparents moved to the Kansas City area as freed slaves from Tennessee, and the family then built a legacy rooted in education and working hard.
"Our family always had high regard for education, hard work, integrity," Taylor said.
Her grandfather, Robert L. McCallop Sr., founded the R.L. McCallop Bus Service, the first school bus company in Shawnee.
Robert McCallop Sr. and his wife Mary had five children, who attended Dunbar Elementary School.
Dunbar Elementary School only went through eighth grade, which meant students had to travel to Wyandotte County to continue their education.
"Education was always important to grandpa, and he wanted to make sure that his kids and other kids in the community had that opportunity, but at that time, schools were segregated," Taylor said.
Back then, segregation meant Black students in the Shawnee-Mission High School district couldn't attend school in Johnson County, Kansas.
Instead, kids were required to travel to Wyandotte County, where they could attend Sumner High School or Northeast Junior High in Kansas City, Kansas.
"You couldn't go to the same schools as the white children in your own community," Taylor said.
That reality inspired Robert McCallop Sr. to start the McCallop Bus Company.
In 1934, he bought a truck and converted it into a bus that held about 14 students, transporting Black children from Shawnee and Merriam to Sumner High School and Northeast Junior High.
"He had an opportunity and saw a need," Taylor said.
By 1940, Robert McCallop Sr. had purchased a real bus, and he eventually built a fleet.
When schools became desegregated in 1954, the McCallop Bus Service didn't come to a stop — the family secured a contract in Johnson County, Kansas.
“[In] 1954, the schools became desegregated, but the McCallop bus service continued,” Taylor said. “Grandpa and the family were able to get a contract to transport children within Johnson County.”
Taylor's father also drove the bus for the family business, which ran until 1977, nearly 40 years after it began.
In 2021, the McCallop family's contributions to the Shawnee community were formally recognized when the city's mayor issued a proclamation marking Feb. 23 as McCallop Family Day.
The McCallop family's legacy of achievement didn't stop with Robert McCallop Sr., Taylor herself was crowned Miss Black Teen Kansas City, Kansas, in 1973.
"Although we lived in Shawnee, everything was in Kansas City, Kansas, because there wasn't a lot of opportunity for young African American girls to do anything," Taylor said.
The family has also produced a number of entrepreneurs and community leaders.
"I think it gave me a lot of pride, self worth, dignity," Taylor said. "A lot of high achievers, there's a number of entrepreneurs, and I think that's just something that we gained from the background and legacy of our family of wanting to give back to the community.”
Decades later, Taylor sees a need of her own. She says young people today often struggle with their identity and sense of history.
"Young people seem to struggle about who they are and where they came from," Taylor said. "It's interesting, and it's kind of sad that some don't think it's important.”
She addresses that need by speaking with students and sharing her family's history.
"When I talk to students, I try to tell them, 'It's very important to know where you came from,'" Taylor said. "When I talk to young people, I tell them, 'You should know who you are, whose you are and know what you stand for.'”
The importance of passing that history down is something Taylor thinks about often. She recalled a recent moment with her own grandchild that brought it close to home.
"Just yesterday, I had some of the old photos of the family out on the counter, and my 7-year-old granddaughter came up to me and said, 'Well granny, are these my relatives?'" Taylor said. "It's important to know your legacy.”
Taylor says the lessons her family has passed down go beyond history books, and beyond any museum display.
"We all say it's important to pass down this information to our children so they can pass it on down to their children to keep the legacy alive," Taylor said. "You can achieve anything that you set your heart out to achieve.”
Like her grandfather, Taylor has a passion for education, and she says not every lesson can be found in a history book.
She resonates with a message she learned from the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
"For one must know where one has been in order to understand where one is going,” Taylor said. “For we must teach our children that the rejection of heritage means the loss of cultural roots, and that a people who have no past shall have no future.”
The McCallop family display can be found at the Johnson County Museum, located at 8788 Metcalf Ave. in Overland Park.
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