I have heard that Frank Marshall knew the Dunhams in KS, but I will ask you pretty please to tell me how you know. :-)
I will gladly do so! Frank Marshall Davis was encouraged by a teacher when he originally went to the college in KS to continue writing his poetry. He had been given an assignment between a researched paper or a poem so he went to the library and quickly dashed off a poem which received great praise. After spending two years at College Frank headed to Chicago where he obtained work at “The Defender” also writing for other negro papers in the area. In 1931 Frank went to Atlanta GA to work on the colored paper there. He met and married a co-worker, one Thelma Boyd while in Atlanta. Thelma is the woman mentioned in his sex novel although he gave her the name Doris. It was here that the seduction of the 13 year old Anne, a girl from Jamaica, happened. By 1934 Davis returned to Chicago where he continued to submit articles to the “Defender” as well as to a newspaper in Indiana.Thelma followed him to Chicago hoping to make the marriage work but when it became evident the marriage was over she moved to Washington. (I don’t know if she went to D.C. or state, I couldn’t find that information) If you will notice the dates of 1931 to 1934 you will know that Stanley Ann Dunham wasn’t even a gleam in her daddy’s eye at the time. You will also notice in my narrative not a mention of Davis being in KS. Davis spent the time from 1934 until 1948 specifically in Chicago and was often mentioned in the society pages. He was one of those who also received grants under FDR’s artist projects. He taught early jazz at the Abraham Lincoln school in southside Chicago(associated with the Communist Party) and during his time teaching he met Helen Canfield. The two married in 1946 and moved to Hawaii in 1948 at the urging of Paul Robeson who had explained the marriage would be more readily accepted in Hawaii than on the mainland of the U.S. Helen Canfield Davis was disowned by her family when she married Davis. Stanley Armour Dunham met Davis at Charlie’s Tavern in Hawaii, not in Kansas.