Dissent in Wichita: The Civil Rights Movement in the Midwest, 1954-72 [Hardcover]

Gretchen Cassel Eick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2001

On a hot summer evening in 1958, a group of African American students in Wichita, Kansas, quietly entered Dockum's Drug Store and sat down at the whites-only lunch counter. This was the beginning of the first sustained, successful student sit-in of the modern civil rights movement, instigated in violation of the national NAACP's instructions."Dissent in Wichita" traces the contours of race relations and black activism in this unexpected locus of the civil rights movement. Based on interviews with more than eighty participants in and observers of Wichita's civil rights struggles, this powerful study hones in on the work of black and white local activists, setting their efforts in the context of anticommunism, FBI operations against black nationalists, and the civil rights policies of administrations from Eisenhower through Nixon. Through her close study of events in Wichita, Eick reveals the civil rights movement as a national, not a southern, phenomenon. She focuses particularly on Chester I. Lewis, Jr., a key figure in the local as well as the national NAACP.Lewis initiated one of the earliest investigations of de facto school desegregation by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and successfully challenged employment discrimination in the nation's largest aircraft industries. "Dissent in Wichita" offers a moving account of the efforts of Lewis, Vivian Parks, Anna Jane Michener, and other courageous individuals to fight segregation and discrimination in employment, public accommodations, housing, and schools. This volume also offers the first extended examination of the Young Turks, a radical movement to democratize and broaden the agenda of the NAACP for which Lewis provided critical leadership.Through a close study of personalities and local politics in Wichita over two decades, Eick demonstrates how the tenor of black activism and white response changed as economic disparities increased and divisions within the black community intensified. Her analysis, enriched by the words and experiences of men and women who were there, offers new insights into the civil rights movement as a whole and into the complex interplay between local and national events.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"While her book remains in essence a local history, Eick manages to add to and deepen our understanding of the Civil Rights Movement in several important ways, by showing that it had an important existence outside the South." -- Choice "A well-documented reminder that Kansas has been and is a place divided along racial lines... An essential read for anyone interested in the history of race relations in Wichita or hoping for a foundation to begin understanding where those relations stand today... Additionally, however, the book is an excellent primer on the national civil rights movement." -- Wichita Eagle "Eick makes a convincing case that important developments, long ignored by most scholars, were happening in the Midwest too... Based on solid archival research as well as interviews with dozens of activists, this work will appeal to specialists in the modern civil rights movement and to scholars and teachers of Midwestern history." --Great Plains Quarterly "Straightforward, free of excessive jargon, and replete with substantive analysis, this work stands at the vanguard of a lengthy body of literature. Readers will find this work edifying and long overdue." Western Historical Quarterly ADVANCE PRAISE: "Wichita at mid-century was a northern city with southern customs, where African Americans faced discrimination in the workplace, schools, housing, and public accommodations. Gretchen Eick's fascinating and moving account of the black freedom struggle in the Midwestern heartland is at the cutting edge of the new civil rights scholarship." -- John Dittmer, author of Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi

Book Description

On a hot summer evening in 1958, a group of African American students in Wichita, Kansas, quietly entered Dockum's Drug Store and sat down at the whites-only lunch counter. This was the beginning of the first sustained, successful student sit-in of the modern civil rights movement, instigated in violation of the national NAACP's instructions. Based on interviews with over eighty participants and observers of this sit-in, Dissent in Wichita traces the contours of race relations and black activism in an unexpected locus of the civil rights movement, revealing that the movement was a national, not a southern, phenomenon.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (October 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252026837
• ISBN-13: 978-0252026836
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,016,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential work on the Midwest roots of the movement, January 2, 2003

By 

Lou Heldman, Publisher, The Wichta Eagle (Wichita, KS USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dissent in Wichita: The Civil Rights Movement in the Midwest, 1954-72 (Hardcover)

The critical events and personalities of the civil rights movement weren't confined to the southern United States. As Gretchen Cassel Eick so ably demonstrates, Wichita, KS was itself a center of the struggle in the critical period from 1954 through 1972.
From a 1958 drugstore lunch counter sit-in that predated the more famous one in Greensboro, NC by two years, to agonizing struggles for school and housing desegregation, this mid-sized city far from the national headlines had all of the elements.
As reviewer Randy Bradbury said in the Wichita Eagle, "Gretchen Cassel Eick's book is a well-documented reminder that Kansas has been and is a place divided along racial lines, where opportunities differ depending on skin color."
Professor Eick creates a compelling narrative by weaving Wichita happenings in with those on the national level. So we see Wichita events in a context of changes in social beliefs, political leadership and even how they shaped and were shaped by infighting in the national leadership of the NAACP.
She also introduces us to a fascinating cast of activists at the center of the local struggle, a few of whom also played national roles.
The book works on two levels -- both as a narrative for the lay reader and as a well-documented study for academics.
As Bradbury wrote in his Wichita Eagle review, the book "must be considered an essential read for anyone interested in the history of race relations in Wichita or hoping for a foundation to begin understanding where those relations stand today. Additionally, however, the book is an exceelent primer on the national civil rights movement..."

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dissent in Wichita, August 18, 2009

By 

Norma J. Ball "Jill Ball" (KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dissent in Wichita: The Civil Rights Movement in the Midwest, 1954-72 (Hardcover)

I am a Wichita native. I was growing up when the 'incident' occurred. I remember it well. This account is written by an 'outsider' and that is why it is factual and definitive. Wichita is an extremely racist city and has always been such. It's very Southern in attitude. As a 'white person' I am thrilled to see the truthful exposure contained in this work. Very interesting read, well worth the price.
Jill Ball