HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The City of Hutchinson, Hutch in Harmony, and HCC's Social Sciences Department are coming together Friday to commemorate the first official Chester I. Lewis Day, with the unveiling of the new biography plaque in Chester I. Lewis Plaza and a proclamation read by Vice-Mayor Jon Richardson.
The event is part of the Emancipation Day celebration in Hutchinson and is at 15 E 1st Ave, Hutchinson, KS at 6 p.m.
Lewis, a Hutchinson native who went on to become a civil rights attorney fighting segregation, is the namesake for the plaza.
Lewis was born in 1929 in Hutchinson, and Lewis was a “freedom fighter” early in life.
Lewis went to the University of Kansas and would earn a law degree. He settled in Wichita and worked for integration. According to the Kansas Historical Society, Lewis “helped desegregate restaurants, swimming pools, aircraft companies” and “local government agencies.” He lobbied for a fair housing ordinance and mentored black students. He died in 1990.
When Chester Lewis grew up in Hutchinson, the school district was the only one of the state’s 12 largest that didn’t segregate students by race.