Lewis Family Legacy

My walls are covered with the symbol of the “sword of war.”
Heroism. Valor. Courage.
My people are who I am fighting for
My side is the side of justice
The other side tried to hush this
Where do you stand?
Lewis Legacy Live Forever

- Ellamonique Baccus

Chester Lewis’s father used to say, “We are all born equal, and when we die everyone gets dirt thrown in their face. The only thing that is important is what you do for people. Don’t let the wind catch you, or material things cloud your identity and your vision. Just go out and help others.”
(Source: Dr. Mary Ellen Lewis London, Chester Lewis, Jr.’s sister)

Chester I. Lewis, Jr. championed civil rights, winning hundreds of court cases that provided opportunities for African Americans to gain more access to housing, jobs, pools, restaurants, and schools in Wichita.

Born August 8, 1929, he grew up in Hutchinson, KS with his parents, two brothers, and sister. Hutchinson was the only one of the 12 largest cities in the state that did not segregate school children. Chester Lewis, Sr. delivered the mail and published a newspaper, The Hutchinson Blade, on which the whole family worked.

Both parents were college graduates, his father from Langston University in Oklahoma and his mother with two B.A.s (the University of Kansas and Colorado State Teachers College). Hutchinson schools would not hire her, despite her five years teaching experience. Chester’s parents challenged their children to excel. Mealtimes included spelling bees, quizzes, and discussions.

Chester I. Lewis, Jr. served with the U.S. Army of Occupation in Japan after high school and was one of 40 black students out of 10,000 at the University of Kansas, graduating in 1951. He entered K.U. Law School, graduating third in his class in 1953.

He moved to Wichita to set up his law practice at 23 with his wife Jackie Rickman (Lewis/Gilbert) who also attended K.U. Later that year Jackie gave birth to their first child at Wesley Hospital. Baby Michelle was placed in the old bassinets at the back of the nursery, standard practice with Black babies, the nurse told Chester. He immediately demanded to speak to the hospital administrator, threatened to sue Wesley for $250,000, and got the policy changed.

Chester and Jackie volunteered with the local NAACP. Daughter Brenda Kay Lewis (Davis) was born September 2, 1955. Chester worked as Assistant Sedgwick County Attorney 1954-56 and from 1957-1968 was president of the Wichita branch of the NAACP.

He and Jackie divorced in 1961. Chester married Vashti Crutcher, adding her son Steven Hurley to their family.

He became a national vice-president of the NAACP.

After investigating the disappearance of three civil rights workers in impoverished Mississippi in 1964, Lewis changed. He led a five-year national campaign to get the NAACP to address the economic issues that oppressed Black people.

He represented Wichitans who lost family and homes in the 1965 Piatt Street plane crash.

Chester also organized Black professionals to finance two supermarkets called Brothers in Northeast Wichita to give people access to grocery stores.

In his final court case he won $16.5 million from the Santa Fe Railroad for Black porters. [See Employment Panel] Lewis died in 1990, age 61.

For more information, visit the Wichita Public Library's page on Chester I. Lewis.

Follow this link for more resources on the Lewis Family Legacy.