Black Archives of Mid-America

Part 3 of an interview with former Kansas City mayor Ilus W. Davis. He discusses his election to city council, his campaign for mayor, the development of Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Hospital, his thoughts on racial issues and the civil rights movement, the city's public accommodation ordinance, and Black political engagement. He also discusses the protests that happened in the wake of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, his disinterest in future political office, and remarks on the importance of access to education and jobs for the Black community.

Interview with Adolph Wilson, owner of the Fireplace Lounge and Northwest Junior High assistant principal. Wilson discusses his family and early life in Oklahoma, attending segregated schools in Kansas City, Kansas, working as a teacher and administrator in Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools, and how he got involved in the nightclub business. He also discusses the business of running a nightclub in Kansas, including taxation and zoning, his plans for the future, and also discusses school integration efforts.

Interview with reporter and producer Chee Chee Williams. Williams discusses her family and early life, her early understanding of race, attending predominantly Black schools, graduating from Central High School, attending College of Emporia, and starting her news career at KMBC Channel 9 where she hosted the Dimensions in Black program.

She also shares thoughts on the feminist movement, memories of reporting on prison inmates and making a documentary about Muhammad Ali, and talks about the role of Black people in media.

Interview with Kansas City Public School District board member Dr. A. Odell Thurman. Thurman discusses his family and early life in Mississippi and St. Louis, his father's work as a minister, attending (and later teaching at) Dunbar School, attending high school in Liberty and St. Joseph, attending Western University and later graduating from Lincoln University, getting a masters degree, and working as an educator in Kansas City, Missouri. He shares his thoughts about segregated schools in Kansas City, earning his PhD, and becoming an assistant superintendent for the school district.

Interview with Dr. Billy James Taylor. Taylor discusses his family and early life in Chattanooga, Tennessee, enlisting in the Army Special Forces, attending Tennessee State University and the University of Minnesota, returning to Tennessee to enroll in Meharry Medical College, working as a restaurant inspector, and coming to Kansas City in 1972. He also discusses seeing Black and white patients, race-based assumptions in medical care, varying economic conditions and neighborhoods in Kansas City and throughout the country,

Interview with Colonel Robert L. Sweeney. Sweeney discusses his family and early life in Highland, Kansas, his military service in World War I, experiencing little discrimination in Highland and France, working as a chauffeur in St. Joseph and Kansas City, visiting New York City, his friendship with the Pendergasts, Harry Truman, and police chief Clarence Kelley, and his hopes for development in downtown Kansas City. He also shares thoughts about World War II, Black political alignments over time, numerous politicians, Black activists and intellectuals, and prominent black Kansas Citians, among other topics.

Interview with Henry Warren Sewing, founder of Douglass State Bank. Sewing discusses his family and early life in Texas, his experience at Fisk and Tillotson universities, teaching in Austin, moving to Kansas City circa 1920, working at and rising in multiple life insurance companies, and his work founding and operating Douglass State Bank.

Interview with state representative Henry C. Ross. Ross discusses his family and early life, attending Lincoln High School, his early jobs and involvement in politics, being elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1964, the work of lawmaking and politics, and his plans to run for state senate office. He also shares thoughts about Freedom Inc., prominent Black Kansas Citians and other politicians, local political factions, the upcoming Republican National Convention, and the role of the police in the protests following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Interview with Adolf Ridgway. Ridgway, born in 1890, discusses his family and early life in Arkansas, dropping out of school at the age of 6 to help his mother, picking cotton, coming to Kansas City in his late 1920s to work on the Santa Fe Railroad, and his memories of the two world wars and the Great Depression. He also shares his thoughts about past American presidents, the boxer Jack Johnson, leisure time activities, and working at other jobs, including North American Aviation.

Interview with Kansas City (Kansas) Globe newspaper reporter Eddie Reese. Reese discusses his family and early life in Mississippi, attending school and church, enlisting in the Marine Corps and his service in Vietnam, returning to study journalism at Kansas City Kansas Community College and the University of Kansas, and working for the Kansas City Globe, a weekly newspaper focused on the Black community. He also discusses Black culture and activism at KU and his thoughts about various politicians and activists.