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A People's History of Kansas City

The Golden Arches in Black Kansas City

By Mackenzie Martin,
Suzanne Hogan
Published April 27, 2023 at 3:00 AM CDT
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Crysta Henthorne, KCUR 89-3
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Images Courtesy Of UMKC Libraries And Southern California Edison Photographs And Negatives, Huntington Digital Library
Kansas City community organizer Lee Bohannon speaks at City Hall on April 9, 1968 — the day of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral. Behind him is an original McDonald's hamburger stand.

A 1975 protest at a McDonald’s restaurant in Kansas City emerged from years of escalating tension — between Black community members and their city, and between McDonald’s and the neighborhoods it occupied. But this particular location was also one of the first Black-owned fast-food franchises in the country, an accomplishment born from its own struggle for inclusion.

This episode of A People's History of Kansas City was reported, produced and mixed by Mackenzie Martin with editing by Gabe Rosenberg and Suzanne Hogan.

A People's History of Kansas City
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Mackenzie Martin
Mackenzie Martin is a senior podcast producer at KCUR Studios and host of the podcast, A People's History of Kansas City. Contact her at mackenzie@kcur.org.
See stories by Mackenzie Martin
Suzanne Hogan
Every part of the present has been shaped by actions that took place in the past, but too often that context is left out. As a podcast producer for KCUR Studios and host of the podcast A People’s History of Kansas City, I aim to provide context, clarity, empathy and deeper, nuanced perspectives on how the events and people in the past have shaped our community today. In that role, and as an occasional announcer and reporter, I want to entertain, inform, make you think, expose something new and cultivate a deeper shared human connection about how the passage of time affects us all. Reach me at hogansm@kcur.org.
See stories by Suzanne Hogan
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