Two landmark Oklahoma City civil rights demonstrations took place on the same day in August — 11 years apart.
The Oklahoma City sit-in movement began on Aug. 19, 1958, and the Oklahoma City Sanitation Workers Strike began on Aug. 19, 1969.
The 66th anniversary of the sit-in movement and the 55th anniversary of the sanitation workers’ strike will be the focus of this year’s Freedom Fiesta, the annual commemoration and celebration of the start of the Oklahoma City sit-in movement led by civil rights icon Clara Luper. She led 13 members of the NAACP Youth Council to conduct a sit-in demonstration to integrate Katz Drug Store on Aug. 19, 1958, in downtown Oklahoma City.
Marilyn Hildreth, Luper’s daughter ― a civil rights leader in her own right — said the Clara Luper Legacy Committee chose to focus on the two demonstrations this year to reflect on the courage and resilience of civil rights activists who participated in both. This year’s commemorative activities will begin on Thursday, Aug. 15, with the Freedom Story and Art Show at Oklahoma Contemporary, a choir concert on Friday, Aug. 16, and the Sit-in March and Reenactment from Frontline Church-Downtown to Kaiser’s on Saturday, Aug. 17. The special week will culminate on Sunday, Aug. 18, with the annual Freedom Fiesta Church Service at Fifth Street Baptist Church.