In 1964, Howard alumnus Howard Nelson, 98, staged a sit-in at a Kansas City bowling alley that refused to allow Black people to bowl. This photo is among the first in The Star or The Kansas City Times to show Black protesters on the front page.
Born on Feb. 12, 1923, in Washington, D.C., Nelson was the youngest of four children. He graduated from
#HowardUniversity dental school and became the head of the all-Black Heart of America Dental Society. His life’s work has been dedicated to helping Black people move forward.
“It was a magnificent affair,” Nelson said of the bowling alley sit-in. “I gave the command, sit, and we sat down and blocked the business. Chief (Clarence) Kelley arrived,” Nelson recalled. Kelley in 1973 would go on to become director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “They didn’t know what to do.”
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- Honored by a resolution at City Hall for “his contributions to the advancement of African Americans in Kansas City, Missouri” (2018)
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