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.
"We hope that by remembering what happened to us, we would never forget, so we can never go back to that," Hildreth said. "Our young people will see what has happened here. They can just go and sit down and eat at a lunch house because they're hungry, but somebody had to pay the price for them to be where they are now, and a lot of their parents and grandparents did that."
'A tremendous thing to remember'
People who participated in the sit-in movement are encouraged to take part in the Freedom Fiesta activities each year. This year is no exception, and Hildreth said she'd like to see residents who participated in the sanitation workers' strike attend some of the Freedom Fiesta activities.
Hildreth said many Douglass High School students took part in the sanitation workers' demonstration, and she's hoping they will join the special week of activities, as well. She said participants in the 1969 demonstration will be honored at each Freedom Fiesta event.
The Rev. John A. Reed, one of the more well-known participants, will preach at the Freedom Fiesta church service. Reed, a civil rights activist and longtime pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, said he is the only living member of the group of Black clergy who participated in the sanitation workers' demonstrations. The strike began in August and continued until November.
"As far as the pastors are concerned, I am it — all of the other pastors have passed on," he said.
Reed said the pastors gathered with many Black community leaders as the Coalition for Civic Leadership, led by the Rev. W. K. Jackson, of St. John Missionary Baptist Church.
The sanitation workers' strike began when more than 200 Black sanitation employees working for the city of Oklahoma City walked off their jobs. Reed said it was a year after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while he was in Memphis, Tennessee, to support sanitation workers in that city.
More: How sit-ins, civil rights icon mother Clara Luper influenced Marilyn Hildreth's own activism
The minister said the Oklahoma City sanitation workers went on strike for better salaries and working conditions, along with opportunities to move up in the ranks — opportunities that had been denied them. He said the latter grievance was important to the sanitation workers because they wanted equal representation in administrative positions. In other words, they wanted to have opportunities to move up to supervisory positions and other leadership roles.
Reed said the Black community, including the indomitable Luper, came out in force to support the sanitation workers. And as the sanitation workers went on strike, other Black residents stayed away from their jobs on a Friday that they called Black Friday.
Reed said at one point, he and the group of clergy, holding Bibles, faced down several hundred police and Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers and a sanitation truck that appeared to be prepared to move the group of nonviolent protesters out of the way. The clergy group — holding fast to King's nonviolent approach — were attempting to lead protesters in a march to Oklahoma City Hall.
More: 'I'm still in the race': Oklahoma City preacher celebrates 60 years at one church
“We stood there, and Rev. Jackson was reading the 1 Chronicles 16:22 that says, ‘Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm,' as the truck was moving right toward us,” Reed said. "I told Rev. Jackson to talk a little louder so the truck driver can hear you."
Reed said the harrowing moment paid off because the sanitation workers received better wages and working conditions.
The longtime religious leader said he was pleased that the sanitation workers' demonstration would be remembered during this year's Freedom Fiesta.
"I personally think it is a tremendous thing to remember," Reed said. "That particular occasion was one of the strongest movements here in the city."
2024 Freedom Fiesta
The following activities are planned for the 66th commemoration of the Oklahoma City sit-in movement and the 55th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Sanitation Workers Strike. The events are free and open to the public:
● Aug. 15: Freedom Story and Art Show, 6 p.m., Oklahoma Contemporary, 11 NW 11.
● Aug. 16: Choir concert, 6 p.m., Bishop Angie Smith Chapel, Oklahoma City University, 2501 N Blackwelder.
● Aug. 17: Sit-in March and Reenactment, 9 a.m., Frontline Church, 1104 N Robinson, to Kaiser's, 1039 N Walker.
● Aug. 18: Church service, 6 p.m., Fifth Street Baptist Church, 801 NE 5.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC's Freedom Fiesta to commemorate sit-ins, sanitation strike
