Chester I. Lewis

Chester I. Lewis. . Chester Lewis was born in 1928. His father, a World War I veteran, was editor of an African American newspaper in Hutchinson called “The Blade.” The paper would routinely bring to light racial inequalities, both locally and statewide. Chester helped his father edit the paper. According to Chester's sister, their father was adamant about having a proper education and excellent vocabulary., Lewis enlisted in the Army after graduating from Hutchinson High School in 1945 and served on Okinawa in the 1225th Engineer Fire Platoon. After being discharged in 1951, he enrolled at the University of Kansas where in 1953 he graduated third in his class and began practicing law in Wichita, Kansas., In an interview, Lewis' sister discussed the difference in racism in Hutchinson versus Wichita. She explained that in Hutchinson, there were barely 100 Black families, and they were spread all over town. In Wichita, however, things were far more segregated. The Black population was clustered on the Northeast side and strict segregation policies had kept the populations isolated. It was these policies that Lewis was determined to bring down., His first major win came in 1953 when he filed a lawsuit against Wichita for segregated swimming pools. Lewis was an expert [in] Kansas law and was able to use a little known and seldom enforced law forbidding discrimination from 1874., Following his victory with swimming pools, Lewis began to branch out into other areas of the city. One of his biggest concerns was discrimination in employment. He began sending letters to Boeing, Cessna, Coleman, and the Wichita Police Department requesting meetings to discuss hiring practices. Given Lewis' reputation, most companies implemented hiring changes immediately., Lewis is widely regarded as instrumental in the Dockum Sit-in of 1958. Lewis trained and prepped the students for the sit-in. The media attempted to bury the activity in hopes that ignoring that situation would just make it go away. Within three weeks, the sit-in was a success and companies began desegregating lunch counters statewide., At the time, the NAACP preferred to use the courtroom and law to effect change. While Lewis [was] still a supporter of this strategy, he believed that a more active and physical presence within the community could provide faster results. He became actively involved with the "Young Turks" movement and by 1968 he resigned from the NAACP., Following the Piatt Street Crash in 1965, Lewis was the first lawyer called by families to help with legal needs. The crash took the lives of 23 people on the ground and seven people on the plane. Most of the work done on this case was done for free. Lewis took issue with the lack of compassion shown in the wake of the crash and was energized to pursue legal action and full satisfaction for his clients., This is just a sample of the lasting impact Mr. Lewis had on both the city of Hutchinson and the country as a whole. His legacy of fighting for civil rights and his dedication to people who have been disenfranchised is as relevant today as it was then.