The Fair Housing March

The Fair Housing March of 1963 was the largest public demonstration in Wichita up to that time. Wichitans of diverse cultures and religions joined together to protest housing discrimination based on race, national origin, or religion. The battle continues.

- Ellamonique Baccus

“We must set forth a new declaration of independence…young and old, black and white, poor and not so poor, are possessed of marvelous energies and constructive ideas, that we all have morale and a character we have not dared to ponder—[so] that America can once more make ourselves, and much of the world, shiver with delight.”

- Chester I. Lewis, Jr.

In 1950, Wichita was the 8th most segregated city in the United States. In 1963, Chester and his wife Vashti sought to buy a home, wanting their children to attend Brooks Junior High School. Vashti and her son Steven went on a house tour, accompanied by a white couple who were their friends. They found a house for sale just north of Wichita State University on Roosevelt Street. The neighborhood was all white. Racially restrictive covenants denied any Black person the right to buy property there, even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled these covenants violated the 14th Amendment in 1948. The realtor assumed Vashti was the maid of the white couple who bought the house and deeded it to the Lewises.

The head of the 60+ member neighborhood association told the Wichita Eagle they were prepared to take legal action to force the Lewis family to leave. Explosives were set off in their mailbox. A rock was thrown through a window. Their cat was poisoned. A cross was burned on their front lawn. Volunteers from Temple Emanu-El and the Unitarian Church formed teams to protect the Lewises.

Many congregations called for a fair housing ordinance that would guarantee that anyone could buy or rent housing regardless of their race, color, national origin, or religion. A coalition led by Vashti Lewis and Unitarian Church pastor H. Paul Osborn presented a petition to the city signed by 1,600 people, including Roman Catholic Bishop Mark Carroll, leading Jewish businessmen, and the school superintendent. They organized the largest demonstration in Wichita’s history up to that time on October 27, 1963.

Neither the city nor the state passed effective fair housing legislation, although the federal government did enact the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

Redlining still exists. So do restrictive covenants.

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