OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The nation’s first civil rights sit-in is now memorialized forever, where it actually happened in downtown Oklahoma City.
You might know the history of OKC teacher Clara Luper leading a sit-in at Katz Drug Store in 1958. It was a pivotal moment in a fight for equal rights. Previously, KFOR showed you the process of creating the sculpture to honor that movement, and now it’s officially a city landmark at Robinson Avenue and Main Street.
RELATED STORY: ‘The fight continues’: OKC celebrations mark 67th anniversary of OKC sit-ins
5 tons of bronze resembling a lunch counter commemorates the pivotal moment in the American Civil Rights movement. It also sits in the very place it all unfolded over 6 decades ago.
“I just wish that my mother could’ve lived to see this because she would be so happy,” Clara Luper’s daughter, Marilyn Luper-Hildreth, said.
In 1958, only white patrons could sit at the Katz Drug Store counter at Robinson and Main. That was until Oklahoma City teacher Clara Luper led student members of the NAACP Youth Council in the nation’s first sit-in there. Their protest was quiet and nonviolent, only seeking a place at the counter for Black citizens. They were yelled at and spit on.
LOCAL NEWS: Former Oklahoman returns to ‘Rip the roof off youth and young adult violence’
“Marilyn’s idea, with her mom’s leadership, they created the sit-in movement in the United States, and it’s a remarkable story,” co-chair of the soon-to-be-dedicated Clara Luper National Sit-In Plaza, John Kennedy, said…