The Katz Drug Store sit-in was one of the first

sit-in 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 mo ...

s during the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

, occurring on August 19, 1958, in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

, Oklahoma. In protest of racial discrimination, black schoolchildren sat at a lunch counter with their teacher demanding food, refusing to leave until they were served. They sought to end the

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

of eating places in their city, sparking a sit-in movement in Oklahoma City that lasted for years.

Event

In 1958, even though separate but equal had been overturned, racial discrimination was still commonplace and restricted blacks from sharing many public spaces with whites.Walker, Devona. "50 Years Ago, Children Helped Change Nation When They Sat Down." Oklahoman.com, Oklahoman, 20 Aug. 2008, https://www.oklahoman.com/article/3285497/50- years-ago-children-helped-change-nation-when-they-sat-down. Black people had to drink from colored fountains, ride the back of buses, and were given their dinners in bags to eat outside of the restaurant.

Clara Luper Clara Shepard Luper (born Clara Mae Shepard May 3, 1923 – June 8, 2011) was a civic leader, schoolteacher, and pioneering leader in the American Civil Rights Movement. She is best known for her leadership role in the 1958 Oklahoma City si ...

, 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 a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

. 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.Wendler, Emily. "60 Years Later: Two Women Remember a Teacher and Lesson That Fueled a Movement." KOSU, https://www.kosu.org/post/60-years-later-two-women-remember- teacher-and-lesson-fueled-movement. 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 participants of the sit-in were Marilyn Luper, Calvin Luper, Portwood Williams, Jr.,

Donda West Donda C. West ( Williams; July 12, 1949 – November 10, 2007) was an American professor and chair of Chicago State University's Department of English, Communications, Media and Theater. She was the mother of rapper Ye, better known as Kanye We ...

, Richard Brown, Barbara Posey, Alma Faye Washington, Areda Tollivar Spinks, Elmer Edwards, Lynzetta Jones Carter, Gwendolyn Fuller Mukes, Lana Pogue, Linda Pogue, and Betty Germany. Before the event, Luper gathered the students to teach them about the principles of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a 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 called "civil". Hen ...

and to train them on how to react to opposition. After their 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 and ordered thirteen cokes. They were refused service, but they stayed at the counter for hours while whites kicked them, punched them, spat at them, and poured things on them.Fredrickson, Kyle. "Oklahoma's Civil Rights History: How Did We Get Here?" NewsOK.com, https://www.oklahoman.com/special/article/4983712/oklahomas-civil-rights- history-how-did- we-get-here. They returned for two more days; on the third day of their protest, one of the employees served them their food, ending segregation in the restaurant.

Results

The sit-in at the Katz Drug Store sparked a series of sit-ins throughout Downtown Oklahoma City's restaurants. 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. Similar sit-in movements were held across the country, most notably 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. Woolworth Comp ...

and

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 ...

in 1960, which gained national attention. One month after Oklahoma City's ordinance was put into place, 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 ...

was passed, which illegalized discrimination across the country."Civil Rights Act of 1964". National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/articles/civil-rights-act.htm.

References

{{Civil rights movement African-American history in Oklahoma City Civil rights movement 1958 protests 1958 in Oklahoma Civil rights protests in the United States August 1958 events in the United States