Past and Present

This commentary originally aired on October 20, 2015.

The United States Congress ratified the Louisiana Purchase Treaty on October 20th, 1803, officially transferring 826,000 square miles of land from French to American ownership for $15 million.

It’s considered one of the greatest real estate deals in history. But at the time, purchasing the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains presented constitutional and political questions for the United States.

The Insular Cases are a series of U.S. Supreme Court cases decided in 1901 concerning the status of U.S. territories and their peoples acquired by the United States in the Spanish-American War.

A Google Maps search for Wichita lists the area north of 21st Street and west of Broadway as “El Pueblo.” The more common community name for the area is the more generic “North End.”

U.S. presidents have long sought to communicate with the American people on a variety of pertinent issues. With the advent of radio in the early twentieth-century, this task became much easier.

As a nation, Americans continue to hit the snooze button on much-needed conversations about race and the legacies of slavery.

The summer of 1958 was significant in the story of Wichita and the nation. On May 31, young entrepreneurs Dan and Frank Carney opened their first Pizza Hut at Bluff and Kellogg. During the summer of that year, pizza’s popularity in Wichita took off.

Meanwhile, in downtown Wichita, another set of youth were making their mark. On July 19, ten African American students entered the Dockum drug store at Douglas and Broadway, sat down at the soda fountain, and when they refused to leave, caused the store to shut down the lunch counter.

Wichita, like many other U.S. cities during the early-to-mid twentieth century, placed restrictions on how African Americans could use municipal swimming pools. According to numerous local blacks who lived during this era, the pool at Riverside Park was especially notorious in this regard.

The fortunes of local African American swimmers improved dramatically in 1969 with the construction of a swimming pool at McAdams Park. This facility, created by the renowned black architect Charles McAfee, received a design award from the American Institute of Architects in 1970.

This commentary originally aired on June 30, 2015.

Those shopping and eating at Bradley Fair in northeast Wichita probably don’t realize that they are visiting what could have been the community of Manchester.

2017 marks the 80th anniversary of the Wichita flag, designed in 1937 by Cecil McAlester. Just a few years ago, few people knew that our city even had a flag. Today, it is everywhere, its bold shapes an emblem of local pride. 

The year 2017 represents the 50th anniversary of the “long hot summer” of 1967. During this tumultuous period, 176 cities (including Wichita) experienced racial disturbances.