Johnson County library honors family that helped desegregate Kansas schools

By Nydja Hood

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — A new library just opened in Johnson County and it pays homage to a family that fought to desegregate its schools. The Webb Family room at the Merriam Plaza Library is now the embodiment of the family’s mission, a place where people of all races can meet, learn history, and share ideas.

“It’s a complete match for our mission, our vision, our values of what we stand for at the library. Access to information, ideas,” said county librarian Tricia Suellentrop. “The work that the Webb family did, Mary and Alfonso, is all about access.”

Many have heard of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case of Topeka calling for the desegregation of schools nationwide, but few know of a case that happened years prior in Johnson County. The 1949 case of Webb v. School District 90 was part of a movement helping to forever change the face of education.

The roots grounding the Webb family run deep in Johnson County. In 1949, Mary and Alfonso Webb filed a lawsuit against a local school district fighting for its desegregation.

“People in the community, Ms. Esther Brown, etc., they had to collaborate, come up with a plan so that they can make things better and in order to do that you have to have a place to meet, a place to talk, a place to come together,” said Webb family descendant Victor Webb.

Victor and Mary Webb are two of their surviving children.

“I’m very proud of our family history,” said Mary Webb.

Webb’s siblings attended the predominantly black Walker School that became segregated in 1912. Webb describes the poor condition of the school with leaking roofs and flooded basements.

“They divided the classes by putting up a drape across the room. That’s how they divided the classes,” she said.

In 1947, the district built a new modern school called the South Park School. The board declared the school would only serve white students even though it was funded by a bond paid for by both black and white families. Black students were denied entry.

Walker students and teachers protested by refusing to return to the Walker School campus the following school year. Their efforts were ultimately successful in 1949 when the Kansas Supreme Court outlawed school segregation.

“We’re just happy to know that our father was part of that. That he was determined, he was driven and that he was focused on making sure his kids has the same opportunities as everybody else,” said Victor Webb.

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