Developer J.C. Nichols expanded his influence on the Kansas residential market when he expanded development into northeast Johnson. Along with his upscale style, he brought along his firm beliefs in racial segregation.
Nichols developed a “Declaration of Restrictions” that he filed with plat maps for his suburban subdivisions. In addition to governing minimum size and cost, they also had race restrictions.
These restrictions were stronger than deed restrictions that just covered one home; the Declarations of Restriction applied to the entire subdivision and applied for a minimum of 20 years. By 1950, an estimated 96% of all subdivisions in Johnson County, KS, were under racially restrictive covenants.
But then came Donald Sewing, a visionary real estate agent whose efforts reshaped the demographic landscape of Johnson County.
Sewing, alongside his wife, Virginia, made history as the first Black family to integrate the new Johnson County subdivisions. There had been a couple of pockets of Black residents in Johnson County – in Merriam and Olathe – but the new suburban developments were all White when the Sewings purchased their home in Fairway, KS, in 1966.
Because of the racial restrictions, the Sewings had to purchase their home through a series of straw buyers and a White friend who sold them the home in 1966.
The Sewings faced pushback. At first, there was a lone picketer outside their home on a hot day, who the Sewings invited inside for a soda to talk and get to know them. Then the Sunday edition of “The Kansas City Star” got ahold of the story and printed a bold headline, “Negro Moves Into Fairway,” and things escalated.
According to an archival interview with Sewing, cars paraded all day in front of their home. They were blocked from getting into their driveway. Some protesters threw paintballs, rocks, and large firecrackers over and around their new home.
Someone set up loudspeakers where the Sewings heard angry, racist, hate messages. Car horns were blown, car lights were flashed, and threats were made on the Sewings’ lives.
For several weeks, Fairway Mayor Neale Peterson sent police escorts to their home. Some friendly nearby neighbors, including the Schechter family, the Rev. Dr. Bob Meneilly, and members of Village Presbyterian Church, made regular visits to the home to support the Sewing family.
Over time the protestors disappeared, and the Sewing’s and their neighbors began to respect each other, even if everyone wasn’t friendly.
“I know my neighbors got a genuine education,” Sewing said in an oral history interview. “I wanted them to know that whenever you think of yourself, think of us because it ain’t no difference except color.”
Sewing did not stop with his family. Through his real estate company, he worked to integrate other suburban neighborhoods throughout Northeast Johnson County. He utilized the 1964 Fair Housing Act and the 1968 Civil Rights Act to help Black families purchase homes in Merriam, Prairie Village, and Leawood.
He deployed a sophisticated strategy of scattering Black families across Johnson County to prevent racial turnover of White families, or “blockbusting.”
“The theory was if you use the scatter approach to integration in housing, there was no place [for White families] to run to,” said Sewing.
By 1969, about 30 Black families had purchased homes in previously segregated Johnson County, and by 1971, the number had jumped to nearly 60. Sewing even received national attention when his efforts were featured in “The Wall Street Journal” in February 1969.
Donald Sewing lived in Johnson County until his death in 2007 at age 76. His widow, Virginia Sewing, still resides in Johnson County.
Virginia also made significant contributions to the cause of integration when she became the first African-American elected to the Northeast Shawnee Mission School Board and the first Black person to graduate from Johnson County College School of Nursing.
In 2022, Virginia and Donald Sewing were given the Civil Rights Pioneer Award by the Johnson County NAACP, recognizing them for breaking barriers and blazing a trail for future generations in the area.
