Katz Drug Store Sit-in
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Between August 19 and August 21, 1958, a group of Black students and their teacher held a peaceful sit-in at Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma City to protest segregation. This sit-in came as a result of Oklahoma's existing state constitution and previous sit-ins around the area and country. The Katz Drug Store demonstration sparked major attention and a bigger sit-in movement across both the region and country.


Factors Leading to the Sit-In

When Oklahoma became a state, its state constitution contained strict regulations of segregation between Whites, and Blacks, several of those restrictions related to educational institutions and types of trainings teachers were permitted to receive. Prior to the Katz Drug Store sit-in, was the Wichita, Kansas sit-ins at Dockum Drug Store. The Kansas sit-in was planned by the Wichita chapter of the NAACP in an effort to desegregate the lunch counter and provide more respect for the African-Americans that worked downtown. The Oklahoma City sit-in was planned by the Oklahoma City Youth Council in 1957. This was led by Clara Luper, the council's adult advisor, and Barbara Posey. Due to the success of the Wichita sit-in, they were inspired to make a change in Oklahoma City stores, but added a letter campaign first. Prior to the sit-ins, the group had attempted to negotiate via letters, but was unsuccessful.


The Civil Rights Movement Outside of the South

In popular memory, the Civil Rights Movement has often been framed in the South with sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina or Nashville, Tennessee.Additionally, it is quite common to believe that the “non-southern” picketing efforts were only a “by-product” of the segregation and discrimination being practiced in the South. However, although segregation was not necessarily legal in the North, it was still widely applied in places like schools and housing areas. This was not only practiced in the North, but also in the West too. For example, the western state of Oklahoma practiced legal segregation. Oklahoma continued this treatment towards Black people until the 1970s. Additional examples of racial discrimination and segregation occurring outside of the south come from the northern states of Michigan and Massachusetts. In 1963 in Detroit, Michigan, thousands marched in the “Walk to Freedom March” to speak out against the harassment and discrimination they were facing, especially against the police forces. Furthermore, in the early to mid 1960s, many parents in Boston, Massachusetts, led
boycotts A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...
and
sit-ins A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to ...
. They voiced their displeasure with the unfair treatment and segregation of Black students in public schools. Finally, as this article describes, in 1958, at a local drugstore in the city of Oklahoma City, thirteen Black children that were led by their advisor, Clara Luper, engaged in a sit-in to protest the segregation being practiced in the state and city. As exhibited, the northern and western movements were not simply extensions or direct products of the southern movement; rather, they were their own movements that utilized their own tactics (although similar to the southern movement’s tactics) to further the goals of the Civil Rights Movement specific to their regions.


The Sit-In

In 1958, segregation in common areas, like businesses, was very much prevalent in Oklahoma City. There was no law requiring places open to the public to be segregated, but a lot of them still voluntarily chose to be. The strategy used to segregate their businesses was based upon "trespassing laws" and, therefore, were able to turn away any unwanted customers (specifically black people). Clara Luper, a black high school teacher in Oklahoma City, was a civil rights activist and the advisor for the Youth Council of the Oklahoma City
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
. Luper took a trip with her students to New York City to put on the play "Brother President," where they witnessed Black people living in a desegregated environment. They experienced integrated restaurants and other freedoms that Black people in Oklahoma City had not been accustomed to. After their return to Oklahoma, Luper’s daughter Marilyn asked, "Why didn't I just go in and ask for a Coca-Cola and a hamburger?" in reference to the Katz Drug Store. This prompted Luper to stage a sit-in with thirteen of her Black students. Along with Clara Luper, the some notable students of the sit-in were
Donda West Donda Clairann West ( Williams; July 12, 1949 – November 10, 2007) was an American educator and chair of Chicago State University's Department of English, Communications, Media, and Theater. She was best known for being the mother of American ...
and Barbara Posey. Before the event, Luper gathered the students to teach them about the principles of
civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...
and to train them on how to react to opposition. After fifteen months of preparation, the first day of the sit-in began on August 19, 1958, when Clara Luper and the children sat down at the counter of the Katz Drug Store. They were refused service, but continued to come back for three consecutive days; the Youth Council waited patiently to be served as they sat on stools at the counter. The police remained close to the drug store in case any type of ruckus or disorder broke out. However, none was ever reported. They returned for two more days; on the third day of their protest, the store manager served them, ending segregation in the restaurant.


Legacy

As a result of these monumental sit-ins, Katz Drug Stores ended their segregation policies and integrated their lunch counters. The sit-in also sparked a series of protests throughout Downtown Oklahoma City. For example, the Youth Council won service at Kress' Store and at Green's Variety Store. Furthermore, the Oklahoma City demonstrations and sit-ins sparked national attention and publicity. For instance, ''The New York Times'' wrote five stories describing the events that took place. Similar protests occurred throughout the city until 1964, when Oklahoma City passed an ordinance forbidding restaurants from refusing service or facilities to anyone based on race, religion, color, sex, or national origin. Oklahoma City's ordinance had much relation to the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
, which was actually passed two days before the ordinance went into effect: the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed on July 2nd, and Oklahoma City's ordinance went into effect on July 4th. Other notable sit-in movements occurred across America during this same time period. Two of the most significant
sit-ins A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to ...
that took place during this time included the
Greensboro sit-ins The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests in February to July 1960, primarily in the Woolworth store — now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum — in Greensboro, North Carolina, which led to the F. W. Woolwort ...
and the
Nashville sit-ins The Nashville sit-ins, which lasted from February 13 to May 10, 1960, were part of a protest to end racial segregation at lunch counters in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee. The sit-in campaign, coordinated by the Nashville S ...
. These sit-ins are regarded as some of the most influential and impactful sit-ins of the Civil Rights movement.


References

{{Civil rights movement African-American history in Oklahoma City Sit-in movement 1958 protests 1958 in Oklahoma August 1958 in the United States Anti-black racism in Oklahoma