KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas. Share your story idea with Olivia.
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Years before Brown v. Board of Education made education equal for all students, a Merriam family and their teacher took a stand against segregation at their school.
“Separate but equal is the phrase we think of. They were certainly not equal facilities,” said Andrew R. Gustafson, curator at the Johnson County Museum.
What was once South Park, Kansas, now Merriam, was home to the Walker School, a segregated school for Black students.
Black taxpayers were paying for the newly built all-white school, South Park. Yet their kids were attending the dilapidated Walker School.
“Had no electricity, had no indoor plumbing, and there were holes in the roof,” said Gustafson.
Black parents took these inequalities to court.
“In May of 1948, the Webb family, who had multiple children who attended the Walker School, the segregated all black school, initiated a lawsuit that went to the Kansas Supreme Court challenging this idea of separate but equal facilities,” said Gustafson.
They also staged “The Walker Walkout.”
“Nearly 40 of the black students from the Walker School, the segregated facility, walked out and refused to attend that school until they had an equal facility,” said Gustafson.
Alongside them was a teacher named Corinthian Nutter. Who ensured the students continued their education during the walkout.
“They were teaching in church basements, and in private living rooms, anywhere they could in order to teach the students and continue their education,” said Gustafson. “That was really important to Corinthian Nutter. She believed in education for all students, regardless of color, regardless of situation.”
Many walker school parents agreed with Nutter. Including those of Mary Webb and Wanda Webb Wilkes.
“The parents in the community said, well, what about our school and what about our kids?” said Webb.
Mary and Wanda had siblings that went to Walker. Their parents were the plaintiffs of the lawsuit: Webb v. District No. 90.
“This is for the betterment of our kids, so they can get the education they deserve, so they can live a better life,” said Webb. “That's what they were fighting for.”
That fight wasn’t easy. Too young to remember, the Webb sisters say they can’t imagine how scary it was.
“It was scary. Threats against my dad, unfortunately, not 100% unity in the community that that we lived in,” said Webb.
The Webb family’s fear and sacrifice, and that of everyone by their side, paid off.
“In June of 1949, this decision comes out that if South Park can't open a separate but equal facility, if they can't pay for that, then they have to integrate that school,” said Gustafson.
Five years before there was equal education for all, there was equal education in this small pocket of Kansas.
Black students began attending South Park, and eventually Shawnee Mission North High School to finish their education, one that wasn’t guaranteed at that time.
“They weren't thinking long term in history. They just wanted better for their children,” said Webb.
Nutter was not hired as a teacher at South Park. She went on to teach and become principal of an Olathe elementary school. She taught Wanda Webb Wilke’s husband, Carl Wilke, who became the 10th mayor of Merriam.
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