Today marks the 60th anniversary of  Dockum Drug Store sit-in which took place in downtown Wichita. The Dockum Drug Store sit-in was one of the first organised lunch counter sit-ins for the purpose of integrating segregated establishments in the United States. Though the protest began on July 19, 1958 in downtown Wichita, Kansas, at a Dockum Drug Store but proved successful after three weeks, on August 11, when the manager came in and said “Serve them — I’m losing too much money”.

Who started Dockum Drug Store sit-in protest?

Ron Walters organized the Wichita protest together with his cousin Carol Parks-Hahn. He was 20 when he lead the protest, but  became popular later as an American author, speaker and scholar of African-American politics.

Story of Dockum Drug Store sit-in protest:

In 1950s, schools were segregated up to high school and blacks were excluded from public accommodations. While working for a job, Walters went for lunch to a Woolworth’s store, which would only serve blacks bagged lunches sold from one end of the lunch counter.

To protest against this humiliating act of racism, Walters and his cousin Carol Parks-Hahn met with attorney Frank Williams. The plan they developed targeted Dockum, a downtown store which had a lunch counter that only served white customers. They occupied sit-in by the students at a California college reading newspapers all day long, eventually ending the segregation at campus restaurant.

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Result and Recognition:

The Dockum sit-in was monumental but did not gain the Nation’s attention in the press. Later in 1998, a 20-foot-long bronze sculpture was created at a cost of $3 million to mark the site of the successful sit-in, with a lunch counter and patrons depicting the protest.

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