WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A new branch library in Wichita will be named for a civil rights leader who led a successful sit-in at a diner in the city in 1958.
The Wichita City Council voted Tuesday to name the new library after Ronald W. Walters, who advised presidents, had a successful academic career and wrote 13 books before he died in 2010, KFDI reported.
Walters, a Wichita native, was president of the NAACP Youth Council in Wichita when he organized the Dockum Drug Store Sit-In in 1958. The three-week sit-in ended when the diner’s manager agreed to serve Blacks inside the restaurant. The NAACP said it was the first successful youth-led sit-in in the country.
Walter’s wife, Patricia Walters, told the council via video that her husband had many accomplishments and provided advice to Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
The library branch is expected to open early this year.
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