OKLAHOMA CITY — The downtown Oklahoma City civil rights sit-in that propelled the movement forward is now memorialized where it happened more than six decades ago.
Thousands gathered to dedicate the Clara Luper National Sit-In Plaza, a tribute to the Oklahoma City youth and the teacher who helped spark the nation’s sit-in movement. The plaza sits on the former site of Katz Drug Store, where 13 members of the NAACP Youth Council, led by schoolteacher Clara Luper, participated in a peaceful protest in 1958.
At the time, only white patrons were allowed to sit at the lunch counter. Katz Drug was always ready to take the money of Black people. But, the company made them order their food to go at the end of the counter and then stand there until served. Then, they would have to take their food elsewhere to eat it.
The students’ nonviolent demonstration, met with hostility and insults, led Katz to desegregate its 38 stores within three days and inspired similar actions across the country.
The plaza also features figures of Luper’s children, Marilyn Luper Hildreth and Calvin Luper, who joined their mother in the original sit-in. Clara Luper, who died in 2011 at age 88, was a lifelong educator and civil rights leader. Her daughter, Hildreth, who served on the mayor’s committee to honor her mother’s legacy, delivered a heartfelt speech at the dedication.
“My heart is just filled with joy,” Luper Hildreth told media after the ceremony. “I think of how my mother would embrace this moment.”
She recalled sitting at the Katz counter at just ten years old and described the treatment she and others endured during the protests.
“When people spit on us, kicked us, and started talking about my national heritage when they didn’t even know my name, I felt some kind of way,” she said. “It was part of the process of the civil rights movement to turn your other cheek, to do good to those that do evil to you.”
Luper Hildreth reflected on Oklahoma’s overlooked role in the civil rights movement.
“Unless we understand and know our history, we can’t understand and deal with our future because, so often, they’ve taken our history out of the classroom and out of the history books,” Luper Hildreth told media.
Sculpting a legacy
The $3.6 million installation features a five-ton bronze recreation of the Katz lunch counter surrounded by fifteen life-sized figures representing Luper, her students, and a Katz employee. The sculpture, designed by StudioEIS in New York, was cast in California and transported to Oklahoma City for installation.
Celebrated sculptor Ed Dwight, who consulted on the design, recommended the StudioEIS team and worked alongside Oklahoma artist LaQuincey Reed.
“I’ve known these guys because they’re basically my competitors doing black history memoirs. I’ve done 133 of them in 37 states. So I knew what they could do, and they were in very, very good hands,” Dwight told Free Press in an interview. “I’m really proud of EIS.”
StudioEIS founder Elliot Schwartz said the project was one of the most collaborative in the studio’s 50-year history. He also said the team had little documentary material to reference, which made the project both challenging and rewarding.
“We’ve done many civil rights projects, and this was an incredible story that we wanted to tell,” Schwartz told Free Press.
A One of kind dedication
The ceremony featured musical performances by local choirs and remarks from Mayor David Holt, Schwartz, and committee members Rev. Dr. Lee Cooper Jr. and John Kennedy.
“Sixty-seven years ago, history was made right here on these very grounds,” Cooper said to the audience. “This story, for too long, has not been told and has largely gone unnoticed.”
Mayor Holt called the day “amazing,” noting the “beautiful weather and a huge turnout.”
“It was just so much celebration, love, and unity, and obviously an incredibly diverse crowd that really reflects Oklahoma City,” he told Free Press in an interview. “It was a celebration of something really important that happened in our history, but we also make history by making a statement about the city we want to be.”
The program included performances from the Langston University Concert Choir and the Spencer Elementary School Honor Choir.
“It’s just an amazing experience seeing everyone here of every race that’s here to celebrate the phenomenal woman that is Clara Luper,” District 1 State Representative Jason Lowe told Free Press about the dedication.
At the program’s close, one of these sit-inners and project committee member Joyce Henderson led the crowd in singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” an anthem once sung by youth as they walked to participate in the sit-ins.
“The outpouring of love from all races of people, it really makes this moment very special,” Henderson said in an interview with Free Press. “My regret is that Clara couldn’t be here. But I think she’s smiling over this celebration because it’s a beautiful day. This is a celebration of what her leadership has done.”
Henderson, a former student of Luper’s, became involved in the movement while in middle school and later attended Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C.
The Clara Luper National Sit-In Plaza was made possible through private donations from the Chickasaw Nation, E.L. and Thelma Gaylord Foundation, Love’s Travel Stops, the Inasmuch Foundation, and others.
Zoe Elrod covers events and happenings around Oklahoma City for Free Press bringing her skill as a reporter and photographer. Zoe has spent her career covering local musicians, artists, politicians, and everyday folks.
