KC MAN WAS CONSIDERED A ‘CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEER’
Friends and civil rights advocates joined hands while they sang and reminisced Saturday, May 25 about the social justice accomplishments of a Kansas City man whose life story is recounted in a newly-released book.
The crowd of about 50 gathered at the Black Archives of Mid-America to celebrate the lifelong work of the late Alvin Sykes, whose vast influence started so early that he is considered a civil rights pioneer. In nationwide newspaper tributes following his death at age 64 in 2021, many called him a civil rights icon. The self-taught “attorney” was a high school dropout who conducted research at the Kansas City Public Library, to which he said he “transferred” to continue his education.
Friends turned collaborators who assisted Sykes in the myriad of social justice causes he led, spoke about his efforts as recounted in the book “Show Me Justice: The Happy Life Journey of Alvin Lee Sykes.”
Jeremy Drouin, manager of the Missouri Valley Special Collections at the Kansas City Library, told those gathered Saturday that he fondly remembered seeing Sykes daily, absorbing law books for legal decisions. His presence was so significant that Crosby Kemper, then director of the library, named him the library’s first scholar in residence.
Relatives of Emmett Till, a murdered black teenager who was lynched by two white men in 1955, attended the book event. Till, whose killers were acquitted by an all-white jury in Mississippi, has become the country’s symbol of racial injustice. Sykes led efforts to convince elected officials to enact federal laws aimed at stopping the practice of lynching and other race-based hate crimes. The efforts of Sykes and his colleagues resulted in dozens of victories, including the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Act of 2008, created to correct the inequality that led to the killers’ acquittal. He eventually met Till’s mother, Mamie, with whom he developed a close relationship, and led efforts to present Emmett (posthumously) and Mamie with Congressional Gold Medals for their influence on the country’s race relations. Sheila Chamberlain, who, along with several others in the audience, are related to the Tills, worked with Sykes to get the gold medals awarded to Emmett and Mamie, vouched for the book’s authenticity.
“The book, the thought, the lingo is all his,” she told the group, noting his tireless efforts that resulted in bills that became law, such as the Till Bill and anti-lynching bill. Chamberlain, who traveled from Florida to attend the event, said she was not about to miss paying tribute to Sykes, with whom she was so close that she considered him a brother.
“This is what he did—not just for Emmett—he opened the gate up so good could come,” she said in a telephone interview. “This time the family (Tills) got to tell the whole truth.”
In addition to Till, Sykes, who helped found the Kansas City chapter of the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime, was mostly responsible for convincing Kansas City police to reopen an investigation into the death of Leon Jordan, a politician and business owner who was murdered in 1970. A subsequent investigation determined mobsters participated in his death. Similarly, Sykes’ efforts led to the conviction of a white man that a jury had acquitted in the beating death of Steve Harvey, a black musician, at Penn Valley Park. Consequently, Raymond Bledsoe is the longest serving inmate convicted under the new Civil Rights Act for which Sykes had lobbied.
In a New York Times obituary, Clay Risen, wrote: “Though he never took a bar exam, Mr. Sykes was a brilliant legal and legislative operator whose admirers included city council members, politicians and U.S. attorneys general from both parties.” Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, said in the same obit, “Anyone who worked in civil rights during the last several decades knew Alvin Sykes. He changed the face of American law, and he learned it all in a Kansas City library.”
Lifelong friend Lee Bohannon, who also spoke at the book event, said, during a telephone interview, that Sykes believed “everyone should have equal justice in America.”
Born in 1956, to a 14-year-old rape victim, Sykes credits his mama, a woman in her 40s who took him in and raised him, with developing his love for reading and helping shape his intellect. They lived on the East side in Kansas City.
Bohannon said Sykes was unconcerned about the daily, routine matters of life and, instead, was laser-focused on social justice causes. Because he did not work a paid job and therefore relied on the kindness of friends for a place to stay, he routinely met attorneys and other activists for lunch to discuss issues and his guests always picked up the tab, event speakers said. Bohannon said he frequently bought clothes and shoes for Sykes after noticing his clothes were tattered and his shoes had holes, which Sykes seemed not to notice. Bohannon said his friend was “seriously gifted” in the law so much so that he was unable to accomplish tasks most of us take for granted. “He couldn’t run, couldn’t draw or use a hammer, but was a genius of a guy,” he said. Sykes attended legal proceedings at Kansas City courthouses like many people attend movies, he said, “for entertainment.”
Sykes authored the book with Monroe Dodd, the former editor of The Kansas City Star and one-time morning edition, The Kansas City Times. Dodd had earlier written a booklet, “Pursuit of Truth,” about Sykes when he was named the library’s scholar in residence. The booklet was to accompany a 2013 film about Sykes’ time at the library, Dodd said during a telephone interview. In 2016, Sykes told Dodd he “was the guy” he wanted to write the longer version of his life.
“This autobiography is the culmination of one of Alvin Sykes’ dreams: to make sure his life story was told the way he wanted it,” Dodd wrote in the acknowledgements portion of the book. The 200-page paperback is on sale at Amazon and the Black Archives of Mid-America. Proceeds from the book, which sells for $16.95, go to his estate, which includes his daughter and her children.
At the book event, Dodd read an excerpt from the book and told the group he was honored and lucky that Sykes chose him for the collaboration. “I’d never looked into another person’s life like I did Alvin’s,” said Dodd, also a Kansas City historian.
During a later interview, Dodd said he spent about 50 hours interviewing Sykes about his life, but, sadly, wished he had time for more since Sykes had accomplished so much during his life. Sykes was seriously injured and became partially paralyzed and eventually had a foot amputated due to gangrene following a fall in 2019. He spent the next two years in hospitals and nursing homes where he continued to advocate for social justice by telephone, according to the book about his life. Friends and associates continued to visit him and thought he would recover. He died in March 2021.
Chamberlain said Sykes’ influence can’t be overstated. “What he did for our family (the Tills) is incredible,” she said. “But what he did for the country is more.”
