Since you mention one of Kansas' 'colorful characters', I should tell you about one in the state of South Carolina.
Have you ever heard of Maurice Bessinger? He ran a chain of BBQ restaurants known as Piggie Park Barbecue in the South Carolina area for many years. He also distributes barbecue sauce which is sold in a number of stores in and around South Carolina.
He refused to serve blacks and one by one they kept closing the Piggie Park restaurants until there was only one left in West Columbia, SC. When they threatened to close that one, he started serving blacks. This occurred many years ago.
He is a staunch segregationist and has been quite outspoken about it at times. He ran for governor in the State of SC a number of times. According to what I've been told, he never got more than three per cent of the vote.
He now has a chain of BBQ restaurants called Maurice's Barbecue. He flies the Confederate flag at each restaurant, which has caused some stir (I imagine that most of your have read reports about the Confederate flag being removed from the SC State House).
In 2002, SCANA (the parent company of SCE&G) forbade their employees to park company vehicles at any of his establishments except during service calls.
You can read an article about him at
Regards,
Fred