2021 Kansas Notable Book; Prisca Barnes; Unknown

today in haiti are presents our kansas notable book series continues with people pride and promise the story about them said in cyprus the barns of wichita krista thanks so much for joining us today thank you for having me take us back to the summer of nineteen fifty eight and before you describe the advance of the dokken sedan and for those listeners who are maybe a little younger describe the role of the lunch counter at the drugstore lunch counter first just want to paint a picture of of wichita downtown wichita what was described to me is that downtown wichita with the place to be was bustling vibrant part of the community and these lunch counters where we're inside the drug stores they were i am a place for each grab it eating fellowship with it and neighbor at the lunch counter it was a you know a place of fellowship

and when you are excluded from that and when you have to take your food from the back that's when the challenger rises it says that you're not a part of the community without saying you're not a part of a community so the lunch counter was a place for the community it was a place that was you know good food i good conversation and it was up there was a place where you were invited to have dialogue in and be a part of what was going on i'm in in the widget our community but if you were a person of color you are not invited to that that table or that much walk us through the advance of july nineteen nineteen fifty eight seoul project there and i

worked on the people part of homs practical was more than just a book it was an exhibition end and it was at a time i'm a part of a speaker series and it's a documentary can be but humanity scholar that served on that project was a part of that data can sit in movement and gayle in dc and he described to me the preparation for this if any talk about you know how they weight for tis a page in what they'd done only didn't know what to expect so they would conduct you know simple very cruel acts against each other and preparation and they were i wanted to be prepared for whatever came at them and so each year to heat the entire experienced although the time the journey to

july of nineteen fifty eight the person that is featured the featured character in the book that ron walters director ron walters and i am in topeka in which it how right now they are doing an unveiling of the raw un watchers like prairie and i would be their front row of empty celebrate him with this is quite as they are now that that ron walters where's the spearhead of the duck and seven at the time he was a college today and edit htc you fisk university and he was learning about a non violent protest in what was going on in the world and in the south he was young getting this preparation and when he came back to his hometown and was experiencing this and injustice a he was ready to do

something about it so he and his cousin i'm carol parks her family they had been hosting the civil rights leaders of the community including i'm the mother emmett till when she went on her journey throughout the nation in sharing they know what transpired with her son and so these young people where i'm uniquely positioned to begin this journey end and to lead this this this fight for justice to that date there had not been any successful student led lunch counter sit ins anywhere anywhere so that it you know it be he didn't there'd been sit ins but there had not been any student led lunch counter sit ins and m he was prepared to take the tactics that he was learning i'm from these

really i'm experienced leaders in the community that work there were i'm educating him he was brain that back to the wichita community in helping to prepare the students for a journey and then they act to this day that we talked to a protest that in the dark incident they didn't really know what the outcome was going to be alive because no one would know what the outcome would be that they were just fed up and they were ready to fight for what was right and i think what really was interesting when you really look at the civil rights movement the latter young people there you know they're at a place in my life sometimes you all there yet if the way our options are your two yankee my below tenet but they were right at the right age of these high school at high school early college college students end and the recruitment that right age

to just take on a task that even the national and a police e p u levitt quite ready to latch onto yet but they were they were ready to take on the challenge was their straw that broke the camel's back was there some incident that made ron walters and and his group say now's the time this is the place i think what was going on in the world you know there were so many the events that were taking place like the montgomery bus boycott emmett till twenty the little rock nine they be segregated little rock arkansas high school those events i am rosa parks you know those people that influenced the young people that participated in the attack and seven and they fuel the main fuel their arm desire and there i am their

fight that the fight in them to move forward with conducting a sedan and then going back to ron walters him coming back home after at being erased bc you end up coming back home to injustice and he was also fueled by the president of the wichita the naacp branch chester lewis and toast their lawyers was an attorney and the community was president and a boy cpa and what i was told about this to assist and he was not afraid to fight for what was right and he was be segregating things that were segregated and he gave these young people is blessing the adult branch did not lead this effort they cursed and supported these young people and with his blessing they move forward along with that with the city and the thing with president barnes

she's the author of people pride and promise the story of the duck and said than prisoners so to line a team of nineteen fifty eight how many young people walked into darkened and sat down and started with that and so the interesting thing about the back and say damn it was the first of the liquids come in sudan and it was not documented lake the sit ins from oklahoma and the sudan in north carolina so what we have to go on is that's the oral stories there is wine image of this again and the first account that were told happened when carol parks went into the lunch counter or to the darkened drugstore sit at the lunch counter and carol is very fear in her and her skin is they fear and she ordered a coke and the

lunch counter attendant or the server was just about to serve her her coke when the other participants claim to sit and feel the lunch counter seats and at that moment it made the server come to question that she asked her oh honey are are you covered and carol and seared affirmatively and that is how the sit in began it's how well am what i am told and the way that this sit in was successful is that each school had to be field so that would take turns filling the stills that didn't mean that no one else could sit there i mean when you look at that first picture that only will that only pitcher that image you can see that there's more than just the naacp youth students but that was taking up space from patrons taking money from the drug store and that was that the play and the action

is to fill those seats and so the number of a protest events we are still gathering data about what we boil we did the sixtieth anniversary and there were protests against it i hadn't heard of before that because this was a story that come out at eight they did the work and they win back to living their lives there are so many what i particularly see shared that his father died not knowing that he preaches that they didn't sit at a wichita was just recognized by one of our own national jones with the today show she didn't hold a special on this sit in an acknowledged that she went to church with many of these protests at this and may never talked about it i was giving a talk on journalists right after he passed away and comparing actually his journey in the air he and ron walters with the same

school they had some of the same training and this was an interesting journey when you conduct your back but i am he said a state it after he was brutally attacked there he won it the world to see he wanted you to see that injustice and it was important for you to see it head with that outcome so then you only had one image didn't see the journey you were part of that experience and so it was a challenge for that piece of history to be put up to the forefront when in order for the movement to move forward you needed the visual component you needed to see him to tell him the casket open you needed to see that the hoses and the goals were the things are on a compel people to move and so without that this story went untold for so many years how

long did the sudden continue what is documented for this it ends is that it was a three weeks at a time august eleven is when it is said to be in debt that is when mr dot com came into them drugstore and said those words that changed everything serve them i'm losing too much money on that is that the oral story that has been passed down and haim is wet eventually changed all of that regulations and policies and rex house drug stores throughout the nation and visit with chris' the bar and sci fi author of people pride and promise the story of the dark i'm saddened president described the role of wichita churches in supporting the darkened said n o

wichita church is an app that you know not just which is how to get the church was a powerful part of the civil rights movement and african americans did not have a place where they could go and on hold their meetings in an end up in a place where they could feel safe and i am valued and and the black church was that place end out so one of this one of the stories they i was shared with me that i included in their children's book ways i am when the young people were getting a bit wearying time i was told a time attorney louis called her community meeting that this happened and that the church and m n and that church is where they come in gave the darkened sit in

protests against that fuel for the very end of their journey but it when you look at organizations like the naacp in other civic organizations in the african american community that is where you do where you you'll find them in leadership you would find them and getting their training and so that they can go out and do the work so i believe that the black church was very in triple a and that's not only their back and said and put the civil rights movement as a whole i'm i like to call back to kenya he talks about that the power of music in a specially you can hear those negro spirituals i'm a part of it i went to college on a music scholarship to sing spirituals and then

still do today in our organization and there is this something ballot and that the power of love of spirituals and gospel songs and that's why we're here you would hear alan dulles chance and then at the time when people on their protesting the youth didi they're under guarded around with that spiritual influence and that so that their children's book i am it takes a little bit of a liberty and it's and i think that i was told i use my imagination and use them gospel songs like anger anger let nobody turn me around in and included that in the story because i believe that those are some of the things that influenced and i'm supporting those students and the other thing is saint peter klaver catholic church

in the african american neighborhood and that's where the city and participants prepare for the couple sitting in the basement of st peter klaiber and out this is a it was a staple in the community based they've supported the african american community and i am i've heard so many wonderful stories about how a year there were activities that were taking place because of of this st peter klaiber catholic church and they you open their doors to this this particular activity this back and said and i'm during a time when they didn't necessarily have to open their doors to a young people that we're preparing for something that was not heard

of any industry in this particular community and visit with chris' the bar and sees the author of people pride and promise the story of the dark i'm so dan pritzker how did you become interested in telling the stories and telling the story to young people have it interesting journey so i served as the director of the kansas african american museum and learned quite a bit of history about wichita history and also served as the advisor the youth advisor for this historic youth council and i was surprise when i learned that the young people that have signed up to produce a play in this youth council didn't know about the duck and seven and then their parents didn't know in the community didn't know it was so many people that we're not a waiter and so it became it's

a passion work to tell the story and to shine a bright light on the accomplishments and of these young people they change the nation i am there was a documentary that had already been in korea but i wanted to do something that could reach a younger demographic that could bridge a gap and so do the support of a key man these cancers i was able to write a two story time though is create a documentary trail traveling exhibition and all of those things a pitch is shared their children's book illustrations and the children's book hadn't even been published yet but it but it quickly got a you got a preview of it in the documentary and envy an exhibition that traveled so i got interested because of my journey and in history but then also serving in the

capacity of youth advisor for the naacp youth council and visit with chris' the barnes his father people pride and promised the story of the duck and thin and i'm really glad you brought up the story time village talking about that work and how this book fits in with the work you do it's story time village so start and religion is a literacy non profit to make our mission is to inspire a lifelong love of reading for under served kansas children from birth to age eight and we do a lot of work supporting underserved children ensuring that they have all the tools for success in school in life have the children's book that component wine being diverse books are critical to palm reading motivations understanding that if you can see

yourself in a book then that can open it to work for you to be inspired to created that to inspire a life of every mm let's see weed app started dabbling in children's book publishing bag and maybe twenty eighteen how working with the same illustrator that i'm a wizard at this but priscilla brown fat we diss created a simple book just a test there and that it was the theme song for update happened television program that we have with pbs kansas and have an arrow we just illustrated that that that song just to try it out to see how publishing would go so i am in about twenty eighteen as we begin the journey with telling the story of the duck and said aunt and that was because of the project of a humanities project having that exhibition and the time a documentary and so

we started that journey and began it became our own publishing company he out with the support of midnight presses are printing press and i'm that eighty eight it was an interesting turning their we are now expanding in creating a children's book institute for adults so now we've been to the process with children are writing and publishing now we're going to have work with adults and their journey of writing and illustrating a publishing children's book so i am a gay is a part of a i guess a kind of a long process for us by telling this story in particular telling the story of the duck and sudan for or shoulder and i think it's very important because if you can share this story at a young age if you can inspire a child to understand they can change the world and they don't have to wait until

they're an adult or more until someone else does it they can be the ones that can and make the change happen if he started that at a young age if you put this in the hands of children you allow them to hear the story i think that will oh especially even for our own kansas children we want the world to hear the story before own kansas children to know that this happened here and it happened with a young people what can you do to change the world so we did the documentary worked with young people in that documentary things that they said they were they understood the power pam of young people an end and how they do what they can accomplish and so we believe that by sharing this book with our young people in in kansas are the children of our communities we can inspire the missile i'm speaking with christa bar and she's the author of

people pride and promise the story of a duck i'm certain it's a kansas notable book for twenty twenty one people pride and promise is illustrated by priscilla brown and i would love to talk about those illustrations are really at compelling mix sketches and kindest die allies to photographs and he didn't talk to me about that choice to use that type of medium when we look at the dark and sit in and i shared earlier about how there's only one image so the goal of this book is to bring colour to to expand to tell the story of that imagery end no longer have just one image of the duck and sudan and so what priscilla create it was more i guess i'm realistic fica photograph on what you would actually see if you would take a picture of what

was happening in nineteen fifty eight but then we wanted to compel a child who wanted to take this journey with this and so even their main character ron walters week now my younger version of himself and so that he could take you on this journey and still be images are playful and realistic at the same time that and then there's a color journey so if you go through there there are themes and they're saying i'm hope struggle triumph each game has a color and you go through the color journey and tell everything is in full color i hadn't noticed that at a show at the very end of the book is no longer black and white and you've got to improve the blocks of colors and tell you that to this yo this mosaic this beautiful

you know tapestry of color press corps why do you think the world knows so much less about the dark i'm sittin in wichita then we do about statins and other protests in say north carolina and across the south in iowa said and national naacp convening and representatives from oklahoma awaits their sit in began today there are thirteen ended debate where it and the food in front of the entire are convening his thousands of people and they were saying we were the farsi dr damon vcu i tell what he said don't worry about saying will you know that we were the first as a is very important if you want to know

history and you want history to right itself you know make do get get right then you need to ensure or that if that timeline is right and so the main reason that this even went quiet for so long is because of the lack of imagery that lack of love the newspapers were covering it at the police stations weren't coming out and i'm you know i'm making sure that you know there was you know attention placed on this you know make sure that there are some safety going on in all of that out this is what i am told is that the community outside of the african american community was told to step away let this let this go away

these these you know troublemakers will will eventually go away and they didn't they stayed there for three weeks until they got what they rightfully deserve the second reason is we have some really humble people going to work they were there for any attention they weren't there to to celebrate it they did the work they accomplished their goal and he reaped the benefits from it and the rest of the community to it as well and they are just now being recognized you know in the end and they're only held to last years of her lap as they're being recognized for this great work that they've done for our nation dr martin luther king himself acknowledged these young people at the nineteen fifty nine national and at the lazy e p conference even that because it they could map they didn't have anything tangible to wrap around for this particular

piece of the civil rights timeline it gets swept under and they're more visual acts and the civil rights movement were is placed above this one well ben thank you for writing this book thank you i've been visiting with pres the bar and she's the author of people pride and promise the story of the dark i'm still in prisoner thank you so much for listening with me today thank you it's been a pleasure and kate mcintyre will have more katie our prisons coming up right after this