Page 17 - Ambassdor Delano Lewis Sample

was about two blocks from where I lived. It was a very supportive

community. The neighbors looked out for all the kids in the
community and supported us in our efforts to learn and to grow.
We had black businesses in the community. There were cleaners, a
record shop, car wash, and a local grocery store where the clerk

was an African American woman. It was run by a Jewish man, Mr.
Marx, who was a strong leader in our community.
It was just a very close-knit community with a high school
being there and several churches. I was a part of H.B. Baptist

Church. Reverend D.H. Henderson Sr., a pastor of the church
and a great Baptist preacher and leader in the community, was
another role model. He was also head of the local chapter of the
NAACP. So, when you talk about what the thinking was about

that area at that time, there were always concerns that we should
be breaking down some of these barriers. When we went to
Minnesota Avenue, we couldn't go to the shows, we had to sit in a

certain section. There was a black theater around the corner from
me called the Regal Theater, which was all black. But if we went
several blocks to the main drag, which is Minnesota Avenue, we’d
have to sit in a certain section of the white theater. The lunch

counter at the five-and-dime store was segregated.
My mother said to me one day, “Well, we're going to go sit up
there.” I said, “Mom, I'm not so sure I want to go and sit in the
segregated section.” She said, “I know this is demeaning, but I

want to teach you how to eat out, I want to teach you how to
handle yourself with a knife or a fork and eat out.” So, I think that
experience was valuable even though it was a segregated one.
In summary, the people were well aware that education, the

civil rights movement, the NAACP needed to be about breaking
down those barriers. Breaking down the barriers of
accommodations and public accommodations. There was no

integrated swimming pool in Kansas City. In fact, there was no

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