WICHITA, Kan. — A new library branch in Wichita will be named for a late civil rights leader who grew up in the city.
The city council voted Tuesday to name the library for Ronald Walters, who organized a sit-in in 1958 at a Wichita diner that served only takeout food to Blacks. The three-week sit-in ended when the manager of Dockum Drug Store began serving Blacks inside the business. The national NAACP says it was the first youth-led sit-in that got the desired results. Walters had a distinguished academic career, wrote several books and was an advisor to presidents.
He died in 2010.
