The Wichita NAACP Blog: Highlights from the 39th Annual Wichita Black Arts Festival

Profile in Courage: Dr. Ronald W Walters

As the President of the Wichita NAACP Youth Council in July of 1958, Dr. Walters led the group as they conducted the first successful student-led sit-in of the Civil Rights movement. Sit-Ins were not an approved tactic of the NAACP in 1958 so when the Branch and Youth council asked for the support of the National Office, they were turned down. It required an extraordinary amount of courage for Ron as the Youth President and Chester I Lewis, the branch President, to press forward over the objections of the National Office. When the sit-in ended in August of that same year, the Dockum drug store on the corner of Broadway and Douglass in Wichita Kansas was integrated - along with the entire Rexall Drug store chain and all its subsidiaries. Following the success of the Dockum Sit-In, the Oklahoma City Branch Youth Council conducted a sit-in that August. From there, the tactic spread throughout the Midwest. In 1960, a group of young men and women from SNCC conducted a sit-in in Greensboro North Carolina which many mistakenly believe to have been the first... Dr. Walters went on to become known throughout the world for his knowledge of African American politics and leadership. He headed the African American Leadership Institute and Scholar Practitioner Program of the University of Maryland, served as Distinguished Leadership Scholar at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership, and retired as Professor Emeritus of the University of Maryland College Park. Dr. Walters was a dear friend, a supporter, and a mentor, and he will be sorely missed... July 1938 - September 2010

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Highlights from the 39th Annual Wichita Black Arts Festival

The 39th annual Wichita Black Arts festival closed yesterday. More than 6,500 people attended this years festivities. The Branch hosted a membership table, an information table with facts and literature about becoming a foster parent, and a voter registration booth.

This year's celebration began with the third annual Umoja 5K walk/run. The run was co-sponsored by the Wichita Branch NAACP Health Committee, the Wichita Black Arts Festival Committee, and Via Christi Health Systems. 117 people from the community came out and ran the course through Grove park. This years walk/run even saw teams from Tabernacle Baptist Church, Holy Savior and the Church of the Living God.

The official opening of the Black Arts Festival Celebration came on Saturday morning with the Black Arts Festival Parade. Ten members of the Wichita Branch NAACP Youth Council (Wichita NYC) marched in the parade and carried a coffin through the streets in a mock burial of the "N" word. The Wichita NYC Chess club also set up a Chess table behind the Branch Membership table for the second year in a row. The Youth along with their coach, Mr. Anthony Winn (pictured in the White Hat), and Adult Branch President Myles, took on all challengers.

The Youth group also partnered with the Black Arts Festival Committee to host a teen-talk forum, entitled "you are what you think". 62 Youth participated in the forum which was based on the NAACP's National STOP campaign dealing with the negative terms and names the youth use in addressing one another. More than just the "N" word, the forum asked the youth to consider how they want to be regarded and remembered. The forum featured a powerful presentation and music from Mr. Rob Simon. Afterwards, the Youth were broken into smaller groups and were able to complete spoken word pieces describing their feelings on the subject and their hopes for the future. Each group then took turns performing their piece for the whole. At the end, each youth was given a small slip of paper to write down the negative words and terms that they've either used, heard, or been called and they each brought those slips of paper up the the front of the room where they were placed in the coffin to be buried along with the "N" word. http://www.kansas.com/news/local/story/165155.html

The festival closed last night with an 'Old School' party and concert headed by the SOS Band!