In 1952, at Kresge department store on Minnesota Avenue, Chester Owens sat down at the lunch counter in his military uniform. Owens, an Air Force veteran, was pushing back against Jim Crow laws barring Black people from being served at the same lunch counter as white people.
"He felt that it was significant that people be able — all people be able — to eat at the lunch counters," said Dr. Cynthia Owens Harris, Owens' eldest daughter.
Owens is remembered by Kansas Citians as an activist, entrepreneur, educator and historian in Kansas City, Kansas. Owens was 91 when he died in August.
The oldest of three girls, Owens Harris describes her father as someone who provided guidance and taught his children to treat others equitably, and to be a voice for the voiceless.
Only months before the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Owens met with the civil rights leader to discuss activism in Kansas.
Owens' daughter Dr. Karen Owens said King "shared with them and encouraged them to keep up the good fight and to 'stay in good trouble,' as John Lewis would say."
- Dr. Cynthia Owens Harris, daughter of Chester Owens
- Dr. Karen Owens, daughter of Chester Owens
- State Sen. David Haley, D-Kan., 4th District
