Museum of World Treasures in Wichita will host “The Dockum Drugstore Sit-In,” a presentation and discussion by Prisca Barnes on Thursday, September 17 at 9:00 AM. This event will take place in person at Museum of World Treasures, located at 835 E. 1st Street, Wichita, Kansas. Community members are invited to attend this free presentation, and no prior registration is required. Contact the Museum at 316-263-1311 for more information. The program is made possible by Humanities Kansas.

Seeking racial equity and an end to segregation, Wichita’s Black students organized and staged a sit-in in 1958 at Wichita’s Dockum Drugstore. Long denied entry into the city’s movie theaters and restaurants, students exercised their right to peacefully protest over a three-week period at the popular lunch counter. What transpired, how it ended, and the lasting impact it had on race relations in the city is the focus of this talk. More broadly, the talk will explore how these types of protests transformed the struggle for racial equity in America. 

Prisca Barnes is the founder of Storytime Village, Inc., a nonprofit organization in Wichita that promotes reading among low-income children and families. She is a passionate advocate for equity in education and literacy.

“The Dockum Sit-in was one of the first student-led lunch counter protests of the Civil Rights era and it happened here in Kansas,” said Barnes. “It important to revisit its circumstances.”

“The Dockum Drugstore Sit-In” is part of Humanities Kansas's Speakers Bureau and “21st Century Civics,” a collection of resources that invite Kansans to participate in community discussions and learn more about the history of American democracy and the shared responsibilities of citizenship. “21st Century Civics” is made possible with support from “A More Perfect Union: America at 250,” an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.