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CITY OF LAWRENCE, KANSAS
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LAWRENCE FAIR HOUSING ORDINANCE
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50th ANNIVERSARY ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
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Interview of Gerald Cooley
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October 12, 2016
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MR. ARNOLD:
Today is October 12th, 2016.
I
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am local historian Tom Arnold interviewing Jerry
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Cooley at Lawrence Public Library for the City of
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Lawrence Fair Housing Ordinance 50th anniversary
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oral history project.
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passed in July, 1967, Mr. Cooley was serving as
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the assistant city attorney for the City of
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Lawrence.
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At the time the ordinance
Mr. Cooley, please tell me a bit about your
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background and what you were doing in Lawrence in
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the mid to late 1960s.
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MR. COOLEY:
I returned from the military in
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1959, finished law school, joined with Milton
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Allen, an attorney, in his practice of law.
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Milton became the city attorney sometime in the
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'50s.
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During the times that you mention we were in
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a period of conflict, may I say, from two
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directions.
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the unrest that accompanied that.
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the Vietnam War demonstrators that came from all
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over the world literally to be in Lawrence,
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Kansas, at that time.
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Number one, there was a race issue,
Number two was
I was kept busy running around town to see
where the fires were and what we needed to do, if
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I could assist in resolving some issue or halting
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some problem that the city was engaged in.
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prosecuted truckloads of people, I suppose would
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be a fair way to put it.
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I
The old police station was just down the
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street to the south here where the fire station
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and senior services center is today.
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place on the second floor for the holding of
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prisoners.
There was a
There were, I believe, two big cells
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there.
Generally I was at the call of the city
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manager, who at that time was Buford Watson.
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Earlier in that same early period there was
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another city manager.
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middle of things and did a very good job, I might
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say, in trying to soften the impact on the
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community.
Buford got in right in the
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As I say, I was up practically every night.
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I roamed the streets in my car, I walked, I rode
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with the police wherever they thought that I might
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be of some benefit.
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A lot of it wasn't fun.
Some of the tactics
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I saw were used by the North Koreans, a strong
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piano wire in the alleyways across from tree to
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tree about neck level.
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to get the police or others that they didn't
I suppose they were trying
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approve of to pursue the alleyway as an exit or an
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entrance and cut their necks.
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was discovered very early.
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that.
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Fortunately that
We had no interest in
We had a lot of violence in the high school.
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The high school seemed to be a focal point for the
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racial issues at that time, although there were
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certainly bigger issues than just the high school
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involved.
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There was housing, employment, education.
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had a very small African-American community in
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Lawrence at that time.
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quite small at that time, I'm guessing less than
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20,000 people, may have been even under 15,000,
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but anyway, it was a small percentage of the
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African-American community who lived here.
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We
Of course, Lawrence was
The job itself was all-encompassing.
It was
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to give advice to the police, to the city manager,
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to the City Commission.
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who were actively involved in the demonstrations.
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We were very fortunate we had a Highway
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Patrol colonel who was chief of the Highway Patrol
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at the time who came to town and actually got out
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and walked the streets and mingled with those who
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were in the demonstration mode at that time.
It was to deal with those
He
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softened the impact a great deal, at least during
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the time that he was working the streets, so to
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speak.
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I could go on and on, I guess.
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MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
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MR. COOLEY:
But it all leads to the same
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issue, what did we do ultimately, I guess.
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(04:56)
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MR. ARNOLD:
Yes, let me ask you, you said
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you had come back after serving in the military in
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1959.
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you grow up in Lawrence or go to K.U. as an
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undergrad?
Had you been in Lawrence before that?
Did
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MR. COOLEY:
No, I grew up in Oklahoma City.
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MR. ARNOLD:
Okay.
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MR. COOLEY:
Which gave me probably a
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different perspective of what the, among the
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racial issues than other people who had not lived
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in the south.
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it was sometimes worse conditions than existed in
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the south.
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Even though it was not the south,
I lived in Georgia.
I served in the Army at
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Fort Benning on two different occasions and got a
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real experience of my life there, but coming back
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I had a feeling for what the racial issue was
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because I had witnessed the no black person can
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sit beyond a certain seat in the bus, in the
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street car, and the white people were not supposed
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to go back to where the black people were seated.
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That was something that bothered me and a couple
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of my buddies.
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old, I suppose, but we challenged that and stepped
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to the back of one of the street cars and were
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ostracized by the conductor immediately, but
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We were eight, ten, eleven years
anyway, we did it.
I remember what bothered me a great deal was
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that in downtown Oklahoma City there were a few
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restaurants where they had, it was not drive in
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but it was walk up type restaurants and you could,
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people could go inside to eat after they were
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served or sit outside, but the colored could not
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go inside.
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I wasn't an activist by any means but did wonder
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why, why we had such a rule.
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They had benches for them.
I left K.U.
I really,
I was commissioned in the
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infantry in 1954 and went to Fort Benning on a
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second, my second time.
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unbelievable in those days.
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there some yourself, but I thought the government
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could have saved a great deal of money if they
The south was
You may have been
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hadn't had so many different water fountains for
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whites, blacks, enlisted, officers, women, men.
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Same thing for toilets.
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had, we had, my class at Benning, my second tour
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there, I don't remember that we had any diversity,
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maybe 150 of us that were in a particular class.
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They were all over.
That's about my background.
I
As I say, I
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think I have a feel for different aspects of the
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race issue, particularly having lived in these two
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foreign, I will say foreign places.
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MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
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MR. COOLEY:
They certainly were foreign to
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me.
I had not been out of the state of Oklahoma
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until I came to Oklahoma, excuse me, to Wichita to
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attend high school in 1945.
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transferred and we moved into a different, an
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entirely different community atmosphere.
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(08:30)
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MR. ARNOLD:
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My dad was
Okay, great.
Interesting.
Those are useful perspectives.
From the time you came back to Lawrence in
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1959, or at the time you came back how would you
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describe the types of discrimination that you
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found in Lawrence?
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MR. COOLEY:
Well, the obvious were in the
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restaurants and theaters and that's something
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that's often talked about, but we had four
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theaters, as I recall, at that time, four public
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theaters, and the balconies, particularly at the
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Jayhawker I remember they, the African-Americans,
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the minorities, were put in the balconies.
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weren't allowed to sit downstairs.
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existed in the other theaters.
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the Jayhawker came to mind, witnessing that.
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They
The same thing
For some reason
There were a lot of exchanges between the two
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levels in the theater by the people.
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for and some were against what was going on, so I
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had to feel uncomfortable about that because it
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later led to some significant impact between those
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who were in favor of the racism and those who were
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not.
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(09:47)
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MR. ARNOLD:
Some were
So over the course from the time
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you returned in 1959 to start law school through
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the kind of very tumultuous, even violent times
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you described at the beginning, which I assume
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kind of set in in the late 1960s, how did you see
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things evolve in terms of race relations during
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that decade?
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build over some of these practices?
Did just kind of tensions gradually
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MR. COOLEY:
Let me correct myself.
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returned to Lawrence in 1957.
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law school in 1959.
I
I graduated from
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MR. ARNOLD:
Okay.
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MR. COOLEY:
I made a misstatement there.
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I'm not sure that anyone recognized a slow
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process that was evolving.
Obviously the housing
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issue was significant, but there weren't any
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rental places to speak of.
I returned to go to
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summer school in 1957 and my wife and I had a very
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difficult time.
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foot basement apartment that was infested, but the
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price was right for $50 a month in those days.
We finally found a 400 square
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MR. ARNOLD:
Interesting.
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MR. COOLEY:
But there was no significant
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rental market here in town at that time.
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could get a room in a boarding house or in one of
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the old homes over in the west part of town.
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Those facilities weren't available to me and I'm
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sure they weren't available in any greater number
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for the African-American.
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You
There were ways that I remember that
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landlords, landlords' agents, those who were
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renting properties, and even selling properties,
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attempted to control who they rented to.
One way
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would be that they'd make a telephone call in
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response to an ad in the paper and make an
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appointment with the representative of the owner
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to view the property.
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up within a half a block or so and see who it was.
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If it happened to be somebody of color, then
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they'd go on and would not show up to show the
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property.
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wouldn't be tolerated today.
Well, the owner would drive
Obviously that couldn't be tolerated,
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Secondly, there was the problem that, in the
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mixed marriage situations, and that has continued
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on even until somewhat recent times, where a white
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woman, a black man, would be married.
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woman would respond to an ad for rental of a
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property, sign an agreement, and then show up to
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move in and the two of them, the black man and a
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white woman, were present.
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white man and a black woman, but basically it was
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a white woman and a black man in those days.
The white
It could have been a
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That threw a lot of the landlords, the
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renters, the rental companies into reaction that
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was really not very good, and, as I say, that's
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even happened while I was still, toward the end of
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my tenure as city attorney, we had cases involving
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that particular aspect of mixed marriage.
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(13:20)
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MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
And what year was that
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that you finished your tenure, just to put it in
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perspective in time?
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MR. COOLEY:
I graduated -- I graduated:
I
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retired from the practice and as city attorney in
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January of '12, 2012, yes.
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MR. ARNOLD:
Okay.
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MR. COOLEY:
Roughly five years ago.
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MR. ARNOLD:
So the issues certainly have
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persisted in some form well past the time frame
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we're talking about.
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MR. COOLEY:
We had litigation going on --
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MR. ARNOLD:
Interesting.
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MR. COOLEY:
-- involving that.
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(13:48)
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MR. ARNOLD:
Do you recall the Jayhawk Plunge
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swimming pool protests in 1960 and was that kind
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of the first really visible protest against
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discrimination and do you recall how the community
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reacted to that?
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MR. COOLEY:
I recall it very well.
Jayhawk
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Plunge was a private pool and had a big fence
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around it.
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were permitted to be admitted, though I think some
People of color or no diverse groups
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did climb the fence in the late hours of the
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evening or early morning hours and take a free
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plunge, but it was a debatable issue.
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The city sought to solve the problem by
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building a pool.
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two votes where the pool issue was rejected.
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Ultimately there was a passage of an issue at
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election time and the City Commission then
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proceeded to find a way to finance the pool and in
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There was at least one, maybe
fact build it.
There's, it's not a misconception but it's an
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overlooked fact that there was a public pool
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before the current outdoor facility was built at
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the northeast corner of 23rd and Iowa Street, back
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before the public pool was built.
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private club which had been developed by a couple
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of local developers.
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client of mine that happened to be out of St.
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Louis who owned motels and hotels and I talked
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with these people in St. Louis and the others that
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were involved.
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Topeka, maybe an accountant out of Topeka.
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There was a
They sold that interest to a
I think there was somebody out of
Anyway, the group agreed that the city could
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lease the pool for a short, the remainder of
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whatever season it was, it was sometime in the
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'60s, and that was open to everyone, so that that
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gained some time, some relief from the antagonism
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that surrounded this issue for the city to get the
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pool built over from one period of time, one
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closure to the next year when they opened, so that
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greatly relieved a lot of the stress.
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(16:29)
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MR. ARNOLD:
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Right.
I don't know whether
you're familiar with a book by Rusty Monhollon
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called This is America:
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Kansas, but he wrote a description of that
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decision by the city to rent the pool and his
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version of it is that the city, that there was
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pressure from, I think it was high school,
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African-American high school students over some
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racial issues, the lack of access to a pool being
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one, and that there were even threats of violence
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and so the city acted kind of under pressure to
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rent that.
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that happened?
21
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The '60s in Lawrence,
Do you recall any specifics of how
MR. COOLEY:
I don't recall that but it's not
surprising.
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MR. ARNOLD:
Okay.
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MR. COOLEY:
I don't think that you get
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anything changed that involved race --
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MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
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MR. COOLEY:
-- without some force coming
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from the opposing side.
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(17:19)
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MR. ARNOLD:
Sure.
Now that, the actual
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passage of the bond issue, which I think was in
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November, '67, after it had been defeated a couple
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times, what do you think finally changed people's
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minds to go ahead and pass that?
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MR. COOLEY:
Well, I'm not sure.
Some were
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probably doing it because they thought it would
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decrease the volume of protests, of opposition.
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great many I think decided that it was the right
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thing to do, and between the time I returned from
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the military until the mid '60s there was an
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increase, substantial increase in the population
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in this community and those came from outside who
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established their relationships, whether it was
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with the university or private employers, so I
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think those people probably had some impact on the
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outcome of the election.
A
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MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
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MR. COOLEY:
But that's speculation, but I do
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know that there were a great many people, the
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leaders of the community, who opposed it
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originally and who finally said it's time to do
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it.
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(18:36)
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MR. ARNOLD:
Sure.
Continuing kind of along
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that line, what would you say were the, both the
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factors that were kind of impediments to change
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and then what motivated some people, and you've
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already kind of touched on this, to decide it was
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time to get involved and take action and who were
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those people who tended to get involved and join,
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you know, fair housing groups and groups that
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opposed discrimination?
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MR. COOLEY:
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who the people were.
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people who were opposed.
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them by name.
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(19:15)
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MR. ARNOLD:
I'm not sure I have a handle on
I can -- I know some of the
Right.
I'm not going to mention
No, absolutely, don't
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expect you to mention names at all but just kind
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of, kind of general social groups I guess would --
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MR. COOLEY:
Well, --
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MR. ARNOLD:
Local community.
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MR. COOLEY:
-- social, business.
If you had
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a business you engaged socially in those days.
It
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was always somewhat the same mix of people who got
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together from their business and did things
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socially.
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The resistance came from a great many sides
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of the community.
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Some people just grew up in an atmosphere that
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they didn't like the colored people, they didn't
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like what they did or what they stood for.
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didn't want to share, what we really had is an
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ideal community at that time, with anyone who they
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Different voices were sounded.
Others
didn't approve of.
The university faculty and students, they had
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a great influence I think on what changes were
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ultimately made in the pool issue, the adoption of
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the ordinance, that type of thing.
15
The university grew.
When I came, when I was
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in school here, I started in 1950, I don't think
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there was maybe 7,500 students.
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dramatically simply because a lot of returning
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veterans, World War II was still returning
20
veterans to the campus, the Korean conflict, there
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were a great many who returned to the campus who
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had been in that conflict, so that the population
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of the university grew.
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It increased
It's not a secret that a lot of people think
the university has a more liberal attitude than
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some of those who are on the other side of the
2
fence, but whatever it was, I think that the
3
university, not only the personnel but the
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students, had tremendous influence and impact on
5
what ultimately resulted in the ordinance on fair
6
housing, and many other things that occurred to
7
share what we have with other people.
8
(21:28)
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MR. ARNOLD:
Sure.
Yes, it's interesting you
10
say that because I just interviewed Fred Six a
11
week ago and he kind of had the same perspective.
12
He felt that if this wasn't a university town the
13
change would have come much more slowly and
14
possibly much more painfully than it did.
15
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MR. COOLEY:
I think that's true, and Fred
and I started law school the same year, in 1953.
17
MR. ARNOLD:
Really?
18
MR. COOLEY:
He just returned from Korea and
19
started in the summer, I started in the fall, so
20
--
21
(21:54)
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MR. ARNOLD:
Interesting.
Were you involved
23
in any groups that were pressing for change, if
24
not community organizations but say through your
25
church, or was your church involved?
I know that
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the churches played, many churches played kind of
2
varying roles in pressing for change, or at least
3
for fairness in community policies.
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7
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MR. COOLEY:
My family members were and still
are members of the Congregational Church.
MR. ARNOLD:
Which was very active, I think,
in -MR. COOLEY:
It was very active.
There was
division within the ranks of the church as to what
10
the minister was doing at the time.
11
particularly a photograph that appeared in the
12
Journal-World showing a march down Massachusetts
13
Street toward the courthouse and the minister at
14
the time was noticeable in the photograph.
15
brought a lot of comment, pro and con, but the, I
16
don't want to call them antagonists but those who
17
were opposed to what he was doing certainly let
18
him know about it.
19
I recall
That
I later, at some later time I served as a
20
deacon of the church for a short period of time
21
and it was always an issue what should the
22
minister do and what shouldn't he do.
23
did what he thought was right and in those days
24
there were two great ministers that I'd had close
25
contact with and my attitude was that they could
Well, he
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get a job anyplace so I doubt if they were afraid
2
of being fired.
3
MR. ARNOLD:
Interesting.
4
MR. COOLEY:
They were very good at what they
5
did.
6
(23:35)
7
MR. ARNOLD:
Do you recall Reverend Richard
8
Dulin, who was at Plymouth Congregational as, I
9
think he was the campus minister?
10
11
12
MR. COOLEY:
You know, his name comes up and
I don't recall him.
MR. ARNOLD:
Yes, he ended up becoming the
13
chairman or the president of the Fair Housing
14
Coordinating Committee, which actually took the
15
proposal to the Human Relations Commission --
16
MR. COOLEY:
Right.
17
MR. ARNOLD:
-- to move forward with the
18
19
ordinance.
MR. COOLEY:
And I'm sure I knew him and had
20
some contact with him but I simply can't recall,
21
and I mix his name up with another Reverend
22
Dulin --
23
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
24
MR. COOLEY:
-- who's still around Lawrence.
25
MR. ARNOLD:
Yes.
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MR. COOLEY:
And at that, at the time all
2
these things were going on there were I recall --
3
maybe I better recall my notes here.
4
Reverend Sims.
Has his name come up?
5
MR. ARNOLD:
6
across his name.
7
MR. COOLEY:
8
fellow.
9
first met him.
There was a
I do not believe we have run
Reverend Sims was an interesting
He was not a youngster at the time I
I started the practice of law in
10
February of 1959.
11
office more than a week when Reverend Sims showed
12
up.
13
and he handed that to me and it was asking for a
14
contribution to his church, which I certainly felt
15
I should do, even though I didn't know where I'd
16
get the money at the time, but I did it, and he
17
was very active in the community and was well
18
respected.
19
I don't think I'd been in the
He had a little pocket notebook that he kept
At the same time then came along Reverend
20
Barbee, Reverend Dulin, and others who have had
21
great impact on the cohesion or lack of cohesion
22
in the divided issue --
23
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
24
MR. COOLEY:
-- that we deal with in racism,
25
so -- but they have been very active and I think
�21
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have contributed greatly to what calm we have
2
today.
3
(25:39)
4
MR. ARNOLD:
Sure.
In doing our research we
5
really found that a lot of folks from the
6
university were involved in some of these groups,
7
many of the churches were involved, but also you
8
find the names, and Fred Six also kind of pointed
9
this out, that there were certain fairly prominent
10
Lawrence businessmen or spouses of businessmen who
11
were involved and often he thought their support
12
was key to kind of bringing on more of the city
13
establishment behind it.
14
MR. COOLEY:
Sure, sure.
15
MR. ARNOLD:
Do you recall any particular
16
individuals among businessmen who played
17
particularly important roles off the top of your
18
head?
19
20
MR. COOLEY:
I'm not sure, I think Glenn
Kappelman was here.
Has his name come up?
21
MR. ARNOLD:
Absolutely.
22
MR. COOLEY:
And Glenn was very active as a
23
realtor.
He operated out of an office on
24
Massachusetts Street for a lot of years and then
25
became a partner in Calvin, Eddy and Kappelman,
�22
1
which still exists.
He had a good perspective.
2
He had a lot of combat experience in World War II.
3
He was from the Lawrence community so he had an
4
understanding of what it was about when he
5
returned from the military, and he in general was
6
in the forefront of not only the race issues but
7
any issues that were confronting the city, would
8
try to assist in any way he could.
9
he agitated but generally he was received as one
Some thought
10
who was trying to resolve the impact on the
11
community that was happening.
12
(27:20)
13
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
Do you recall any
14
particular incidents or conditions that you think
15
in the mid '60s, before kind of the violence set
16
in, but any particular incidents or conditions
17
that really spurred some people to action or was
18
it just generally the climate and the
19
discrimination, conditions of discrimination in
20
general that really motivated people?
21
22
MR. COOLEY:
At some
point I -- it's sort of like a nightmare at times.
23
(27:52)
24
MR. ARNOLD:
25
Well, it's difficult.
years ago --
Right.
And I know it was 50
�23
1
MR. COOLEY:
Even longer, but there were a
2
lot of days without sleep so I don't remember
3
some.
4
MR. ARNOLD:
Sure, sure.
5
MR. COOLEY:
I think that the thing that
6
really got our attention or got the city's
7
attention was the activity at the high school.
8
MR. ARNOLD:
Okay.
9
MR. COOLEY:
And I'm sure that's been gone
10
over, but I recall being called out or being
11
instructed to go to the high school because there
12
was a demonstration on the north, the exterior but
13
on the north side of the building as it existed in
14
those days, and this is Lawrence High School out
15
on Louisiana.
16
When I arrived I saw a lot of parents of
17
students at the high school, many of whom I knew.
18
I stood there for awhile and the parents were
19
trying to get their children to break up the
20
activity that they were engaged in, which was very
21
vocal, very Trumpish, if I may, if that's a use,
22
proper use at the time.
23
24
25
MR. ARNOLD:
They were vulgar.
I think that's going to be a new
terminology in the American lexicon.
MR. COOLEY:
They were very disrespectful of
�24
1
their parents.
2
of the administration of the high school that was
3
trying to control the situation.
4
that.
5
but I was impressed that the parents were trying
6
to do the right thing, at least what I perceived
7
to be the right thing.
8
solution, in my view, but that was one of the key
9
things that occurred.
10
They certainly were disrespectful
I took sides on
As a parent I thought that that was wrong,
Combat is never a
We had all types of activity.
We had a fire
11
bomb thrown into Judge Gray, who was a district
12
court judge, into his living room.
13
bomb to hit the county attorney's house at the
14
time.
15
wire situation, which brought back my training,
16
prior, --
We had shootings.
We had a fire
I mentioned the barbed
17
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
18
MR. COOLEY:
-- when I was getting ready to
19
go to Korea, and the disrespect that was going on
20
in the community.
21
alarming to me, and to a lot of people.
It was something that was quite
22
MR. ARNOLD:
Sure.
23
MR. COOLEY:
I was under personal attack by
24
an underground newspaper, by people who made
25
threats.
My wife and children lived under police
�25
1
protection for a period of time.
2
period of time when we had two officers stationed
3
across the street in what was then the home of
4
Vice Chancellor Albrecht, who was the dean of
5
academic affairs for the university at the time,
6
but they remained there and guarded and took care
7
of my family and my home.
8
(31:07)
9
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
There was even a
What time frame would
10
this have been?
Was this kind of in '69, '70, the
11
height of the violence, or --
12
MR. COOLEY:
Oh, probably '67, '68, or --
13
MR. ARNOLD:
So --
14
MR. COOLEY:
'68 really broke out.
15
MR. ARNOLD:
'68?
16
MR. COOLEY:
'68 was a period of time I
Yes
17
remember when Chancellor Wescoe cancelled the ROTC
18
review, which was the final program for the ROTC
19
program for the year, where students received
20
awards, designations, whatever it might be, and
21
commissioning ceremonies sometimes took place in
22
those times.
23
people who were not involved really in the issue
24
of race or the Vietnam War at the time but felt
25
that that was just wrong, and I think it stirred
That generated a lot of concern for
�26
1
up a lot of problems.
2
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
3
MR. COOLEY:
Certainly in my mind at the time
4
I thought it was an error.
5
(32:01)
6
MR. ARNOLD:
In your position as the
7
assistant city attorney did you play any
8
particular roles in that time in measures to
9
address discrimination issues or fair housing
10
issues in particular or did you simply not have
11
the tools in terms of, you know, laws to tackle
12
those issues?
13
MR. COOLEY:
Well, we didn't have, certainly
14
the laws were on the book at the time that we had
15
adopted and which have been expanded upon even up
16
to this time.
17
business, if you will, to get involved in real
18
estate matters, that type of thing.
19
It generally was not considered our
Certainly we did get involved in the
20
restaurant issue.
There was a particular business
21
located out on 23rd Street just immediately west
22
of Louisiana and 23rd which was a well known
23
popular steak house, dance house, drinking house,
24
and the owner of that just wasn't going to have
25
anybody in, he wasn't going to permit people of
�27
1
2
color in his establishment.
We knew the owner quite well and Wilt
3
Chamberlain came to town.
Wilt had a great impact
4
on the race relations in this community.
5
was a simple, very simple statement made to the
6
owner of this establishment that, you know, we're
7
going to quit coming to your business, and
8
ultimately he backed down and people started
9
going.
There
I'm not sure there was any great influx of
10
African-Americans or others who went there, but at
11
least it opened the door.
12
opportunity if they wished to take it.
They had the
13
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
14
MR. COOLEY:
So I think that Wilt had a great
15
impact in this community; still does.
16
(34:05)
17
MR. ARNOLD:
18
As I recall, the State of Kansas passed a
Sure, yes, absolutely.
19
public accommodations act, I think in 1959 or
20
1960, which was supposed to open up public
21
businesses to integrated customers, but I recall
22
reading about a number of businesses, a roller
23
skating rink I think comes to mind, that was not
24
following the apparent direction of the law and
25
there was some concern at the time the law was
�28
1
simply too vague in terms of what all kinds of
2
businesses that it applied to, whether they were
3
public or private.
4
of those kind of issues?
5
MR. COOLEY:
Do you recall dealing with any
Oh, I have some recall.
During
6
those times, I think it's important to realize and
7
to understand that this country was in turmoil for
8
many years.
9
the wars were over forever.
We went through World War II, thought
Five years later
10
we're in Korea.
That lasted for three years.
And
11
it seems like we've been at war ever since, but
12
there was a real lack of interest, if you will, to
13
get involved in something else that seemed to be a
14
struggle or a fight, having gone through those two
15
wars.
16
to heck with it, let somebody else figure out the
17
problem.
Lot of people just set back and said, oh,
18
It ultimately got our attention, of course,
19
and I think more so because of the impact of the
20
Vietnam conflict and the Vietnam demonstrations.
21
At the same time we still had the racial issues.
22
I'm not sure but if the racial issues would have
23
gotten the attention that they did without the
24
involvement of the demonstrations against the
25
Vietnam War, because it was a big forum then.
�29
1
Anybody could play "I don't like what's going on"
2
and do something to attempt to change or alter the
3
direction that things were being taken, so yes, we
4
were scared, I think it was a scared community
5
during the time of Vietnam and the demonstrations.
6
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
7
MR. COOLEY:
And it served -- as I indicated,
8
there was violence on public officials.
It
9
particularly concerned me that Judge Gray got the
10
bomb, truly an outstanding jurist, but it
11
happened.
12
(36:54)
13
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
Any other national
14
events that you recall that may have had a
15
particular impact on Lawrence and people's
16
perspectives, whether it be, you know, some of the
17
race riots in big cities around America or the
18
assassination of Martin Luther King?
19
recall that that had any particular impact on the
20
community that was worrisome?
21
MR. COOLEY:
Sure.
Do you
There were two major
22
events.
Kent University is still a front page
23
issue and the dean of students at Kent at the time
24
has been on the administrative staff of the
25
university here for many years and I visited with
�30
1
him, been friendly with him about what went on and
2
what he felt was happening at Kent, and then he
3
became dean of students here, expanded and gave it
4
a title of student life or something like that;
5
still the dean of students as I would recall the
6
position.
7
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
8
MR. COOLEY:
That was a significant thing,
9
and the Vietnam War issue and Martin Luther King's
10
death, if they thought they were going to cure a
11
problem, whoever did this, and I have no reason to
12
know who was the actual perpetrator or who set the
13
thing in motion to kill Martin Luther King but if
14
they thought it was going to ease the pressure
15
from the colored community they were extremely
16
wrong.
17
it did was bring people together.
18
hard-hearted as people are they don't like to see
19
people murdered.
20
MR. ARNOLD:
Sure.
21
MR. COOLEY:
At least that's my observation.
22
(38:44)
23
MR. ARNOLD:
They misjudged their opponent, because all
Sure.
Even as
Scott Wagner pointed out
24
to me that you've lived I think for many, many
25
years in the University Heights neighborhood going
�31
1
back all the way to this time period and he was
2
just wondering whether -- I assume that was an
3
all-white neighborhood at the time but probably
4
had faculty members living among you.
5
housing ever a, or segregation a point of
6
discussion among your neighbors, that you recall?
7
MR. COOLEY:
Was fair
No, and I'm not sure it was
8
University Heights.
I live two blocks west of the
9
fountain at the university, --
10
MR. ARNOLD:
Okay.
11
MR. COOLEY:
-- if that's University Heights.
12
MR. ARNOLD:
I was actually trying to figure
13
out, you know, there's Hillcrest Heights, I think
14
University Heights, there's several neighborhoods
15
back in there, I'm not sure I got the right name
16
--
17
MR. COOLEY:
Yes, that's all right.
18
MR. ARNOLD:
-- but in that area near the
19
university.
20
MR. COOLEY:
West Hills neighborhood --
21
MR. ARNOLD:
Right, West Hills.
22
MR. COOLEY:
-- just west of that.
23
trying to think.
24
opposed integration into the neighborhood, at
25
least no one I was aware of, as long as they mowed
No, I'm
I know that no one would have
�32
1
their yard and cleaned off the sidewalks and kept
2
the place looking decent.
3
(39:59)
4
MR. ARNOLD:
Yes, it's interesting you
5
mention that because one of the perspectives of
6
the fair housing issue is that the real estate
7
agents were steering people away from generally
8
all-white neighborhoods because they thought the
9
people in the neighborhoods would be strongly
10
opposed to having African-American neighbors and
11
they might then hurt the real estate agent's
12
business, but at the same time I've read things or
13
seen things that suggest that there was actually
14
much broader-based support for, or at least no
15
opposition to African-Americans moving into
16
all-white neighborhoods.
17
that perspective?
18
MR. COOLEY:
Would you agree with
Well, certainly in my
19
neighborhood I don't know of any objections that
20
existed.
21
there may have been people who expressed their
22
concern but I don't know that it got to my
23
attention as a legal issue.
24
cases I had to defend on that particular subject.
25
I'm sure in some other neighborhoods
(41:05)
I don't recall any
�33
1
MR. ARNOLD:
Let's shift over a little bit
2
now towards the more, the specifics, and again, I
3
know you weren't directly involved in the passage
4
of the Fair Housing Ordinance but let me, can I
5
ask you some questions along those lines, starting
6
with what was your view at the time, if you
7
recall, of the Human Relations Commission, its
8
purpose, and whether it was successful in moving
9
in the direction of ending, or addressing and
10
11
12
ending discriminatory practices?
MR. COOLEY:
addressed.
Well, I think they were
I don't think it's ever ended.
13
(41:42)
14
MR. ARNOLD:
Right, exactly.
That's a valid
15
point.
16
respected group of people whose efforts were
17
credible among much of the Lawrence citizenry or
18
do you think they were, you know, some people's
19
referred to them as do-gooders who were looking
20
for problems that didn't necessarily exist?
21
Was the membership of the council a fairly
MR. COOLEY:
All of those terms have been
22
used.
They were good people.
They were good
23
citizens.
24
community, university community, just the
25
community as a whole.
They were either from the business
I would not fault any of
�34
1
them.
2
mission that was assigned to them as a member of
3
this particular commission.
4
They had the right attitude toward their
Same thing goes on today, it's not changed
5
any.
6
because they're told what to do to comply with the
7
law.
8
get the more rebuke I see to existing laws by some
9
people than existed in my earlier career.
10
There are people who don't -- who oppose it
It seems that the older we get, the older I
I am still one who thinks if it's the law,
11
that it is what it is.
12
laws.
13
Relations Commission has dealt with some
14
significant problems.
15
16
Those need to be changed, but the Human
It's continued to.
There was -- oh, Heavens sakes, help me out
who the director was for so many years.
17
(43:27)
18
MR. ARNOLD:
19
There may be unreasonable
Of the Human Relations
Commission?
20
MR. COOLEY:
The human, department, the city
21
organization, human relations organization.
22
Ray.
23
sorry.
Ray.
Anyway we'll get to that, Ray Samuel, I'm
24
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
25
MR. COOLEY:
And Ray put out a lot of fires.
�35
1
People had no idea what he was doing.
I mean,
2
staff did, his bosses did, but the general
3
community didn't realize that he solved a lot of
4
problems with the one-on-one conversations, did a
5
lot of those in the evening after office hours.
6
He had a successful career.
7
problems solved because a lot of them still exist,
8
and they'll continue to exist as long as you've
9
got people of opposing views.
He didn't get all the
10
MR. ARNOLD:
Sure.
11
MR. COOLEY:
But it served, it served a good
12
13
purpose.
I remember some of the prime objection was
14
from employers who had substantial number of
15
employees and there was a quota system, if you
16
will, a percentage of your workforce was to be to
17
those of other, of lesser economic means and also
18
of color and diversity, not just African-Americans
19
but Mexicans, all other than Caucasian, so they
20
heard a lot of jokes, you know.
21
came in and said you gotta have 10 people of
22
diversity working here," and he called back to the
23
shop and would say, "Lay off one of them, we got
24
too many," you know.
25
attitude that existed.
"Well, the guy
Well, that was sort of an
They were doing what they
�36
1
were told but they weren't doing anything more.
2
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
3
MR. COOLEY:
I think that if you go into most
4
of the places of business today you just see a mix
5
of everyone working there.
6
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
7
MR. COOLEY:
But I'm sure there are still
8
9
10
those who oppose being told what to do.
(45:42)
MR. ARNOLD:
Sure.
Sure.
Do you recall
11
being involved at all in the actual process of
12
reviewing and then passing the Fair Housing
13
Ordinance?
14
attorney over it, reviewing the ordinance for its,
15
you know, legal wording?
16
Do you recall consulting with the city
MR. COOLEY:
You know, I don't recall that.
17
I was still a youngster in the practice at that
18
time.
19
MR. ARNOLD:
Okay.
20
MR. COOLEY:
I had my hands full with taking
21
care of those who violated our city ordinances.
22
(46:13)
23
MR. ARNOLD:
24
25
Sure.
Were you at least aware
that it was -MR. COOLEY:
Yes, oh yes.
�37
1
MR. ARNOLD:
-- being brought to the
2
commission and what -- did you feel like it was,
3
that the ordinance was addressing a real problem
4
and was sort of fulfilling a need?
5
MR. COOLEY:
Sure, sure.
We would have, if
6
we didn't have such an ordinance we would be back
7
in the days that existed at that time, --
8
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
9
MR. COOLEY:
-- the ways and means that
10
existed at that time, which would not be
11
acceptable and I think would lead to more
12
violence, more outpouring of hatred, bitterness
13
between members of the community.
14
I think there was another important thing
15
that took place in the same time frame and that
16
was the creation of the Douglas County Legal Aid
17
Society.
18
not, but I know Fred, Fred Six and I and some
19
others had impact on that.
20
established, and it simply is, it's run by the law
21
school.
It was an elective course at the law
22
school.
It has represented or the members have
23
represented those of diverse backgrounds, those of
24
low income, low income areas, and they do a good
25
job, and it serves two functions.
I don't know if that's been mentioned or
We worked to get that
It serves the
�38
1
public and it serves -- the law students get some
2
training in hands-on use of what they're being
3
taught.
4
I know that we recognized one problem before
5
the thing really got going that we hadn't, the
6
students couldn't appear in court because they
7
weren't admitted to the bar so we got the Supreme
8
Court to adopt an order stating that, with
9
limitations what they could do as long as they had
10
supervision from an admitted attorney, so it has
11
handled all kinds of realty problems, rental
12
problems of every nature, and they still have
13
those problems.
14
And it's interesting to look back.
I think
15
Deanell Tacha was the first director of the Legal
16
Aid Society at the university.
17
Deanell is, I think?
18
MR. ARNOLD:
I do not.
19
MR. COOLEY:
Oh, okay.
You know who
Well, she became, she
20
was vice chancellor at the university.
She is now
21
the dean of the law school out in California.
22
was on the United States Court of Appeals for the
23
Tenth Circuit, was chief judge of that group, and
24
she's held a lot of positions and been involved in
25
many, many things of value in this community, so
She
�39
1
she kind of got her start back there as initial
2
director.
3
(49:18)
4
MR. ARNOLD:
Interesting.
What do you think
5
ultimately influenced the City Commission to pass
6
the Fair Housing Ordinance?
7
MR. COOLEY:
I'm guessing.
I know of one
8
reason was that there was, we knew, or the people
9
who were involved in organizing this effort were
10
aware that the state was going to adopt something.
11
I think we wanted to get a jump on that and do our
12
own thing, run our own community, so that had a
13
lot of influence on the ultimate decision by the
14
City Commission to adopt it.
15
Secondly, I think there was an outpouring
16
from those who thought it was something that had
17
to be because you at least attempt to overcome
18
some of the significant issues raised by race, the
19
racial issues, the economic differential between
20
groups within the community, and we had, in those
21
days we had really outstanding people that worked
22
on or that were elected to the office of city
23
commissioner and most of them had businesses in
24
the community and were successful otherwise.
25
That's not to say we haven't had good commissions
�40
1
since then, we have, but they filled a need and
2
they, John Emick I think may have been the mayor
3
at that time.
4
5
MR. ARNOLD:
Actually it was Dick Raney was
the mayor.
6
MR. COOLEY:
Okay, yes.
7
MR. ARNOLD:
He signed the ordinance then.
8
MR. COOLEY:
That's right.
9
I saw Dick
yesterday in fact, yes, but -- and Dick was very
10
active with these issues, and he remains so today,
11
I think.
12
(51:06)
13
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
Since you mentioned some
14
of the individuals, do you recall, and again, I
15
realize you weren't directly involved with the
16
ordinance, but any particular individuals either
17
within city government or who may have advocated
18
on its behalf who you remember playing important
19
roles in that time frame and pushing for things
20
like the Fair Housing Ordinance?
21
leaders in the town that you remember?
22
MR. COOLEY:
Any civil rights
Well, Dick, Richard Raney
23
certainly was one.
I don't want to make an
24
attribution to someone who didn't say or do what I
25
think.
�41
1
2
3
MR. ARNOLD:
Yes, I know, 50 years has been a
long time to remember specifics.
MR. COOLEY:
But there was significant
4
support in the community, and I can't come up with
5
the names.
6
(51:57)
7
MR. ARNOLD:
Okay.
Yes, I was going to ask
8
you what, what kind of -- do you have a sense that
9
the ordinance wasn't, other than obviously the
10
realtors had concerns about it, but that it wasn't
11
especially controversial and that there was kind
12
of general community support for it once it was
13
passed?
14
MR. COOLEY:
I don't remember any great
15
controversy.
I'm sure -- I can't imagine that
16
anything that came before the City Commission
17
didn't have some --
18
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
19
MR. COOLEY:
-- controversial aspect to it,
20
but --
21
(52:26)
22
MR. ARNOLD:
Do you think the ordinance, you
23
know, from your perspective as the, you know,
24
assistant city attorney, the prosecutor and
25
ultimately as the city attorney do you have a
�42
1
sense that it had a positive impact, if not right
2
away, over time?
3
MR. COOLEY:
Oh, there's no doubt about it.
4
Some of the practices that were engaged in before
5
the ordinance was adopted and even in the early
6
days after the adoption were practices that don't
7
generally exist today.
8
Most people in the real estate business,
9
whether they're investors or whether they've got a
10
few properties or they've got large projects, they
11
know what the rules are and they know that if
12
they're going to get along they better abide by
13
the rules.
14
whether they appreciate the rules or whether it's
15
-- the fact, the question is do they understand
16
and apply the rules as they're written and it
17
seems that there's been a fair acceptance across
18
the board to follow the law.
19
win if you've got people who are witnesses to some
20
discriminatory act and so you've got other things
21
to do besides be involved in trying to resist
22
something that exists and it's not going to go
23
away.
Now, sometimes it doesn't matter
It's pretty hard to
24
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
25
MR. COOLEY:
At least that's my view of it.
�43
1
(53:49)
2
MR. ARNOLD:
Do you recall any fair housing
3
cases coming before you or do you feel like
4
compliance was pretty widespread after the
5
ordinance was passed?
6
MR. COOLEY:
7
Oh, no, I think it -- it became
more widespread as time --
8
MR. ARNOLD:
Sure.
9
MR. COOLEY:
-- evolved.
Yes, I recall a
10
case in the past 10 years, I suppose, where we had
11
litigation, and again, this is one of those mixed
12
marriage situations, the wife of one color, white,
13
I assume, would be the appropriate person to come
14
forth and rent the property and then they start to
15
move in, when the black husband showed up and the
16
realtor, who I believe did or may still live in
17
the deep south, took exception and said he wasn't
18
going to let them in.
19
litigation and we finally, after really a good
20
many hours, good many days of legal combat, if you
21
will, we ultimately got the appropriate order and
22
there were sanctions that were imposed and I don't
23
know what happened after I left the practice but I
24
assume that there was some substantial compliance
25
with the law which ended the case, but it may, I'm
Well, that creates
�44
1
sure there are others that are going on.
2
MR. ARNOLD:
Right, right.
3
MR. COOLEY:
Lot of times I found that, even
4
though it may not have been my position to do so,
5
I'd get the parties together or get them on a
6
phone call and see if we couldn't work things out.
7
Fortunately e-mails were not excessively used in
8
those days.
9
e-mail today.
I wouldn't allow a client to use
10
(55:56)
11
MR. ARNOLD:
12
Sometimes wonder how we survived
without -- I mean, even --
13
MR. COOLEY:
Very good, very well.
14
MR. ARNOLD:
-- across the course of my
15
career as a, I was a career military officer but
16
started off with there was no such thing as e-mail
17
and then by the end of my career we couldn't do
18
business any other way so you sometimes wonder how
19
did we do business before we had it.
20
do quite well.
We seemed to
21
MR. COOLEY:
Yes.
22
MR. ARNOLD:
You've already talked throughout
23
your interview about various experiences you had
24
in the late '60s, early '70s with some of the
25
violence and unrest in Lawrence.
Any other
�45
1
stories or recollections that you'd like to share
2
about that time period?
3
MR. COOLEY:
Oh, I don't know.
I thought of
4
one that -- every matter that is serious sometimes
5
has a funny, a funny side to it.
6
I recall on a warm summer day sometime in the
7
'60s I had my uniform of the day, which was a blue
8
suit, white shirt, probably a red tie, and I was
9
walking around the area of Ninth and Vermont
10
Street.
11
suppose shopping or getting ready to and I noted
12
their presence and then I heard this vocal
13
outburst from a group of young guys and they were
14
vulgar statements and loud, and at the same time
15
my eye caught a police car and I waved to the
16
police to come over.
17
There were some women who were out I
The policeman got out and said, "What can I
18
do for you?"
And I told him what I had observed
19
and so he called the boys over and he said, "You
20
know," he said, "you guys are always doing
21
something stupid, but," he said, "you've really,
22
you've reached a peak today because you did it in
23
front of the prosecutor."
24
immediately, he said, "Prosecutor?"
25
thought he was the trash man."
This one kid responded
Said, "I
I immediately had
�46
1
to leave, I started laughing and I didn't want to
2
do that in their presence.
3
(58:10)
4
MR. ARNOLD:
One thing that as we've done
5
research for this project certainly in the mid
6
1960s when some studies were done, you know,
7
Lawrence was a fairly segregated community in
8
terms of the areas where African-Americans lived,
9
but to what extent do you think that that
10
segregation contributed to racial unrest?
11
MR. COOLEY:
Oh, I'm sure that it was
12
significant.
13
circumstances but I have lived in poor
14
circumstances where I was part of the dust bowl
15
generation, if you will, and I know that with no
16
money and place to live that's not very
17
accommodating it's not very pleasant, that you
18
sometimes have a bad attitude, so I grew up with
19
those circumstances.
20
I haven't lived in their
Again, I'm not trying to relate that I know
21
what these people have suffered or have lived
22
through, but I think that in the back, hidden in
23
the depth of some of these people they've
24
repressed a lot of these emotions and when the
25
'60s came along the demonstrations and all gave
�47
1
them an opportunity to open those repressed
2
feelings and start to express them and, you know,
3
the Jim Crow law was prominent.
4
issues of the south that were more prevalent than
5
they were here, even though we may have been more
6
repressive than they were in the south.
7
We had all the
I had a particular -- my second tour at Fort
8
Benning I was married, in fact I got married and
9
took off on orders to Fort Benning the same day,
10
but the wife was finishing up her degree by E --
11
by mail, not e-mail, and had a young lady from
12
Alabama who was brought in in a, just a smashed
13
group of people into an old truck and they let
14
them off, and anyway, she once in awhile came in
15
to clean up things, and I thought that was
16
horrible.
17
hour.
18
lieutenant's salary.
19
occasionally and also would try to give her things
20
that we weren't going to use anymore in the food
21
line and I got contacted by the driver of the
22
truck, said, "Don't do that."
23
you drive your truck.
24
what I want to do."
25
you haven't seen it you can't believe it.
I think the going rate was 35 cents an
That was cheap even for a second
I gave her a little extra
And I said, "Look,
If she works here I'll do
But that was a problem.
If
�48
1
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
2
MR. COOLEY:
And this was very, very common
3
occurrence that come from Phenix City, Alabama,
4
across the Chattahoochee River there into Columbus
5
and then to Fort Benning and bringing these
6
carloads of, what, I guess they called them
7
servants at the time.
8
(1:01:29)
9
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
Would you say, you know,
10
from your many years of perspective that you had
11
through your time as assistant city
12
attorney/prosecutor and then once you became the
13
city attorney for many years after the 1960s,
14
would you say that both the positive changes,
15
things like the Fair Housing Ordinance, the public
16
swimming pool, but also some of the obviously more
17
negative experiences, like the unrest of the late
18
'60s, early '70s, did all those things in
19
combination make Lawrence, as painful as some of
20
them were, a better community coming out the other
21
end or did you see positive changes that resulted
22
from that period?
23
MR. COOLEY:
Sure you do.
People who weren't
24
here at the time wouldn't recognize them but this
25
isn't the community that it was at that time.
We
�49
1
were, surprisingly to a lot of people, we were
2
kind of a sleepy college town.
3
with growth you have problems that you have to
4
address, it just, growth, it's just the nature of
5
the beast, I think, but overall I think that we
6
wouldn't be the community we are today if we
7
hadn't adopted such things as fair housing, if
8
there hadn't been other laws enacted either by
9
Congress or by the state or by the city addressing
10
problems of a general nature for all communities,
11
all people, we wouldn't be near the community we
12
are today.
13
Sure we got our problems.
We've grown and
I think right now
14
it's a nation or a worldwide problem that we're
15
experiencing, which is very remindful to me of
16
what took place back in the '60s and '70s, but it
17
will be resolved, hopefully it will be without
18
any more violence.
19
that won't occur, but without great violence and
20
without great loss of life, but it'll end.
21
will be a period of quietness and something else
22
will be a problem, so -- but overall Lawrence is a
23
great town.
24
my moped to the office.
25
one today with the traffic.
I know that is an expectation
There
It was a lot easier when I could ride
I wouldn't dare get on
�50
1
2
3
MR. ARNOLD:
Those college students still do,
though.
MR. COOLEY:
I've got two grandchildren that
4
drive a little different than what I would advise,
5
but stay out of the way of those people.
6
(1:04:00)
7
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
Well, Mr. Cooley, I have
8
come to the end of my questions.
9
offer you if you have any other thoughts about
10
11
I just wanted to
anything we didn't cover that you wanted to share.
MR. COOLEY:
Well, it's been, rambling, I
12
suppose my offering is simply one that's lived
13
longer than would be expected.
14
MR. ARNOLD:
Well, thank you very much.
This
15
was a very useful interview and I think we got
16
some great perspectives from you and you played a
17
central role in a lot of these issues and so we
18
really appreciate the fact that you lent us your
19
time to share some of your memories, so thank you
20
very much.
21
22
23
24
25
MR. COOLEY:
I think it is important that we
keep our history evolving.
MR. ARNOLD:
Right.
*****
Great.
Thank you.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
City of Lawrence Fair Housing Ordinance 50th Anniversary Oral History Project
Subject
The topic of the resource
Discrimination in housing -- Kansas -- Lawrence -- History
African Americans -- Segregation -- Kansas -- Lawrence -- History
Lawrence (Kan.) -- Race relations -- History
Description
An account of the resource
<p>On July 18, 1967, Lawrence mayor Richard Raney signed into law Ordinance 3749, which provided fair housing protections to the citizens of Lawrence and predated the passage of the federal fair housing ordinance by almost a year. The purpose of this oral history project, sponsored by the City of Lawrence to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ordinance, is to document and capture the memories, roles and issues surrounding the passage of Ordinance 3749.</p>
<p>In May 1961 the Lawrence City Commission established an interracial Lawrence Human Relations Commission (LHRC) to “further amicable [race] relations” and “investigate…practices of discrimination” within the city. Separately, in 1964 various community organizations, including the NAACP and church groups, formed the Lawrence Fair Housing Coordinating Committee (LFHCC). Working together, the LHRC and the LFHCC submitted a proposed fair housing ordinance to the Lawrence City Commission in April 1967 seeking to address discriminatory practices in the sale and rental of homes in the city that effectively perpetuated patterns of racial segregation. Although strongly opposed by the Lawrence Real Estate Board representing local agents, the Fair Housing Ordinance passed the city commission on July 18, 1967. As its stated purpose the ordinance aimed “to provide for the general welfare of the citizens of Lawrence by declaring discriminatory practices in the rental, leasing, sale, financing or showing and advertising of dwelling units, commercial units or real property to be against public policy, and to provide for enforcement thereof.”</p>
<p>Approval of Lawrence’s Fair Housing Ordinance predated the signing of the Federal Fair Housing Act by nine months and preceded passage of the Kansas Fair Housing Act by nearly three years. This landmark piece of civic legislation, promoted by a diverse group of concerned residents of a university town that viewed itself as an example of American values to outsiders, including foreign students, and aspired to embody the ideals of its Free-State legacy, addressed discriminatory practices in housing, providing means for victims to seek redress and imposing penalties on violators. The origins, development and importance of this citizen-inspired movement warrants examination and interpretation as the city approaches the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Ordinance of 1967. <br /><br />Interviews for this project were conducted by Thomas Arnold in the summer and fall of 2016.</p>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
City of Lawrence (Lawrence, Kan.)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016
Relation
A related resource
<p>Click <a href="https://soundcloud.com/lawrenceksaudio/sets/50-years-of-fair-housing-in">here</a> to access the audio recordings of the interviews in this collection.</p>
<p>A selection of the interviews were also recorded on video. Click <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzt8e_efB6wWS-BHMpGWKW46fyHPtfKPZ">here</a> to access the video recordings of the interviews in this collection.</p>
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Arnold, Tom
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Cooley, Gerald
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview of Gerald Cooley
Subject
The topic of the resource
Discrimination in housing -- Kansas -- Lawrence -- History
Segregation -- Kansas -- Lawrence -- History
Lawrence (Kan.) -- Race relations -- History
Ordinance 3749 (Lawrence, Kan.)
Jayhawk Plunge (Lawrence, Kan.)
Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Protest movements -- Kansas -- Lawrence
Description
An account of the resource
Oral history interview with Gerald Cooley, who was the assistant city attorney for the City of Lawrence at the time the fair housing ordinance was passed in Lawrence in July 1967. This interview was conducted by Tom Arnold on October 12, 2016, as part of the Lawrence Fair Housing Ordinance 50th Anniversary Oral History Project.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cooley, Gerald
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Lawrence Fair Housing Ordinance 50th Anniversary Oral History Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
City of Lawrence, Human Relations Division (Lawrence, Kan.)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
10/12/2016
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Arnold, Tom
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. The public may freely copy, modify, and share this Item for noncommercial purposes if they include the original source information. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Relation
A related resource
<p>Click <a href="https://soundcloud.com/lawrenceksaudio/gerald-cooley-audio-only-hi?in=lawrenceksaudio/sets/50-years-of-fair-housing-in">here</a> to listen to the audio recording of this interview.</p>
<p>Click <a href="https://youtu.be/NgWqD4fX1pQ">here</a> to view the video recording of this interview.</p>
<p>The Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas is the official repository for this collection of oral histories.</p>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
PDF
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CooleyInterview101216.pdf (transcript)
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Lawrence (Kan.)
1950s - 1970