The Dockum Drug Store Wichita, Kansas Sit-ins of 1958 Photo from Greensboro, NC sit-in of 1960 stratgy1greensboro-cr-nps.gov.jpeg

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness— that to secure these Rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…” The Declaration of Independence, 1776

Mary McLeod Bethune James Weldon Johnson Thurgood Marshall Joe Louis Roy Wilkins A.Philip Randolph Marion Anderson Cole Porter Paul Robeson Zora Neale Hurston Langston Hughes Where is Chester Lewis? Frederick Douglass

By1952, Black Wichita teenagers tested those limits: Once a group went into Hollebaugh’s Drug Store and ordered food, sitting on the stools in defiance of the store’s policy of making blacks get food at the take-out window and eat outside on the sidewalk. When they were not served, they eventually left the store. Another time young black graduates from North High still in their caps and gowns requested ice cream and were refused. Black and white members of the Unitarian Universalist Church also tried to be served, going in groups to cafes after church but was not served. discriminatory humiliating How do you create CHANGE?

If you attended high school in Wichita in the 1950s From 9 th grade on you played sports, attended classes, ate lunch, and played in band together, black and white. But if you looked for a job in the newspaper, job ads were often labeled “Whites Only.” If you stopped for a Coke, restaurants, cafes, and stores like Target and Walmart today had signs displayed that said “We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to Anyone”—and that meant BLACKS.

In the 1950s the Northeast area of Wichita was expanding as the black community doubled in size. A fairly new middle school—Mathewson Junior High School—received black kids moving into the neighborhood as well as white kids already living there. By 1958, Mathewson was 50% black, 50% white. It seemed that separating black and white kids in middle school might end. Then Wichita acquired a new middle school– Brooks. Who would the school board assign to attend Brooks?

An integrated Mathewson created an opportunity to end segregation at the middle school level. NAACP & black parents requested the school board to keep Mathewson integrated and gradually to end segregated elementary schools.

Many white parents whose children were assigned to Mathewson asked the school board to redraw the school boundary to assign their children to travel across Hillside to Brooks rather than to Mathewson, their neighborhood school!

Map of Wichita Mathewson NE Brooks Hillside Ave. in 1958 was a border—E of Hillside there were few Blacks

The School Board redrew the district boundaries to send the white neighborhood’s children to Brooks. With most of the white students removed, Mathewson became 99% black. Though Brown vs. B.O.E decision to end segregation, IT STILL EXISTS IN MANY PUBLIC PLACES even in moderate Wichita Kansas

That summer NAACP Youth Council organized a sit-in at Dockum Drug Store, on the corner of Broadway and Douglas, that began on July 19 and lasted 3 weeks. How do you create CHANGE?

Dockum Drug Store, one of 9 in the Dockum chain in Wichita Wichita Eagle, c. 1958

Sit-ins had been used by labor unions and CORE in the 1940s What were the rules of sit-ins? Be POLITE [civil behavior] Be NON-VIOLENT in requesting service Be PERSISTENT—remain seated awaiting service Be SELF-CONTROLLED—practice being harassed to learn self-control Why would these rules be important to follow?

Young people who sat-in in Wichita Had parental support [mostly, though some parents did not know their children were participating]. Had planned and practiced for their sit-in. Had gone “through channels” asking the local NAACP and the National NAACP for approval of their intent to sit-in.

Left to Right: Ron Walters (pres.), Hervie Wright (NAACP nat’l), Carol Parks (VP), and Rosie Hughes (advisor)

Different philosophy The NAACP focused on litigation through the courts Wichita NAACP, after a long discussion, agreed to informally support their youth— going against the National NAACP’s veto of the sit-in.

Chester Lewis, president of the Wichita NAACP, agreed to be their lawyer without charge. The youth organized teams for different times in the day and planned to sit-in on Thursdays when the stores stayed open into the evening and Saturdays. About 20 youth, ages 15 to 22, participated. They came from two NAACP youth groups, one that met at Wichita University (WSU) and the younger group that met at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church with the support of Bishop Mark Carroll.

Those involved included Ron Walters Carol Parks [now Hahn] Lequetta Glass Diggs Peggy Hatcher [now Wesley] Daisy Blue [now Tanner] Gerald Walters Duane Nelson Joan Smith [now Williams] Joyce Glass [now Smith] Wynona Morgan Black Harold Beasley Billy Alexander Prentice Lewis Galyn A. Vesey Betty Shorter Carol Jean Wells Robert Newby Janice Nelson [now Robinson] Arlene Harris [now Ruffin] Harold Kendall And advisor Rosie Hughes

The potential for violence One day a group of white youth entered Dockums at Broadway and Douglas and behaved in a threatening way.. The police arrived but refused to intervene. Ron Walters used the pay phone to call to Turner’s Drug Store at 9 th and Grove to ask for help. Several cars full of black teens quickly arrived and entered the store…the white toughs exited through the back. ANALYZE: If this became violent, how do you predict the police would have reacted?

Monday, August 11, 1958, the start of the 4 th week and the day the students would begin daily sit-ins… Carol Parks took her seat at the Dockums’ counter waiting yet another day to be served a Coke. The manager emerged from the back of the store. “Serve them,” he said, “I am losing too much money!” Carol called Chester Lewis, her Mother, and the other students to report the good news. How do you create CHANGE?

Chester I. Lewis, Jr. told the press.

Why was this so significant? Dockums, and the Rexall chain it was part of, the largest drug store chain in Kansas, was ending segregation at all of its drug stores in the state of Kansas!!! Lewis wrote to the National NAACP to share the students’ victory.

Why wasn’t it BETTER known Wichita’s media did not cover it. NAACP did not mention it. WHY NOT?

Following the Dockum sit-in students and adults campaigned for 5 years against other local and chain stores—from —sitting-in and protesting stores that took money from black customers but refused to treat them equally.

The Dockum Drug Store sit-in was the first successful student-led sit-in in the US! Greensboro, NC, Feb. 1960, was the first southern sit-in. Wichita’s sit-in preceded the better known Greensboro, North Carolina sit-in by a year and a half!!!

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in 1963, “One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.” Letter from Birmingham Jail

On February 1, 1960, four black college students from North Caroli na A&T University began waiting to be served. How do you create CHANGE?

Sit-Ins In April 1960, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina, to help organize and direct the student sit-in movement.Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee King encouraged SNCC’s creation, but the most important early advisor to the students was Ella Baker, who worked for both the NAACP and SCLC.Ella Baker,

Sit-Ins Baker believed that SNCC civil rights activities should be based in individual BLACK communities. SNCC adopted Baker’s approach and focused on making changes in local communities, rather than striving for national change. How do you create CHANGE?

Ron Walters and Carol Parks Hahn today at a banquet held in Wichita to honor those who sat in. Photo: Carla Eckels

Some of those who sat-in in 1958 with Rep. Todd Tiahrt and Governor Kathleen Sebelius