This photo documents the engagement of Black and White students in the ongoing protests at Dockum Drug Store in downtown Wichita during the late 1950’s. Members of the East High Class of 1960 were actively involved in civil rights activity during high school and as college students at WSU and elsewhere throughout the U.S.
Today, the Dockum site has been redeveloped as an upscale hotel. As part of Wichita’s commitment to public art, one of the dozen or so large bronze sculptures on Douglas Avenue sidewalks memorializes the protests at the drugstore’s lunch counter.
Check out these Class of 1960 stories about the Dockum sit-ins and other civil rights activities that occurred while we were in high school.
On February 6, 2023, the Washington Post published a story about the 1958 sit-in at Dockum. Most of the participants quoted were 18 years old at the time. See “The brave, forgotten Kansas lunch counter sit-in that helped change America.”
