Jesse Milan, Kansas civil rights icon and beloved educator, dies at 92
The Rev. Jesse Milan, a civil rights icon and beloved educator, loved to sing — even if he never got the lyrics right. It was his heart and passion that inspired those around him.
Milan died on Feb. 8 at the age of 92.
He was a distinguished civil rights leader who advanced fair housing practices, created the first racially-integrated public swimming pool in Lawrence and inspired a generation of children. Milan died of natural causes at a care home in Overland Park.
“Everything he touched he left a mark because he put his heart into it,” his younger brother Bob Milan said.
Jesse Milan, born March 3, 1928, in Dupree, Oklahoma, moved at an early age to Kansas City, Kansas, with his family where he graduated from Sumner High School in 1946, according to his obituary.
He served twice in the U.S. Air Force, including during the Korean War, and then attended the University of Kansas where he went on to earn a master’s degree in education in 1954.
After graduating from KU, he began his teaching career — the same year that the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case ruled racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.
‘Children looked up to him’
Milan was the first Black public school teacher in the Lawrence school district. His oldest son, Jesse Milan Jr., said he was a role model for all children. Milan taught physical education and social studies at first at Central Junior High — now Liberty Memorial Central Middle School — before taking on the role of physical education consultant for all of Lawrence’s elementary schools.
“Children looked up to him because he inspired them to want to try things that they had never tried before,” Jesse Milan Jr. said, from the first time a child climbed a rope to walking across a balance beam to their first successful cartwheel.
And Milan’s community — especially the children whose lives he impacted — were never far, rallying to keep him safe.
One night, the younger Jesse Milan remembered, he and his family sat up all night by the windows to make sure they weren’t attacked.
In an interview with the elder Milan in 2016 as part of the Lawrence Fair Housing Ordinance 50th Anniversary Oral History Project, he recalled the Ku Klux Klan throwing fire bombs at his house. In one of last bombings, he said in the interview, the KKK threw a bomb toward his house on West 10th and Alabama streets that exploded in air.
His family was the only Black family in the neighborhood. His white neighbors, he said, came running to protect him.
In 1958, Milan received the Lawrence Junior Chamber of Commerce Young Man of the Year Award. And several years later, Pinckney Elementary School dedicated the Jesse Milan Preschool to him.
Milan also advocated for a bond issue that led to the opening of the first integrated public swimming pool in the community in the 1960s. Before it opened, his son said, he would drive his students to Baldwin City so they could swim.
When the new pool opened, Jesse Milan Jr. said white and Black kids and adults were together in locker rooms, sitting on the side of the pool, eating popsicles and drinking Cokes together.
While still teaching in Lawrence, Milan became an assistant professor of education at Baker University in Baldwin City — the university’s first Black professor. He founded Mungano, Baker’s first student diversity organization. In 2001, Baker awarded him with an honorary doctorate. Jesse Milan Jr. said he will never forget the moment that the entire faculty, followed by the entire student body, stood up to applaud and thank him.
‘He’s an icon’
In 1971, Milan moved to Kansas City, Kansas, where he became the regional director of compliance for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s fair housing office, which covered Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa.
“I saw my father’s professional demeanor change because he was so committed to addressing housing discrimination,” Jesse Milan Jr. said. “I will never forget how upset, angry and distraught he was about the things he had seen.”
His father would share stories of the struggles of people just trying to buy or rent a house so their family could have a place to live.
“He was determined that it was his job, his role, to help people have a fair shot at having a place to live,” Jesse Milan Jr. said.
He retired from the role in 1988. In 2003, he received the HUD Secretary’s Pioneer Award.
Former President George W. Bush later appointed Milan to a commission remembering the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education.
When he was 75 years old, Milan became ordained as a deacon in the Episcopal Church. He served at St. Martin in the Field, in Edwardsville, for 10 years before retiring at receiving the Bishop’s Cross Award for his life of service to the church.
For 50 years, he volunteered at the KU relays, his son wrote in his obituary, and was one of those selected to carry the 1996 Olympic torch through part of Kansas. His brother said he mentored many KU basketball and football players as well.
Milan also led the Kansas branch of the NAACP as well as the Optimist Club.
Milan is survived by his children, Jesse Milan Jr., John Edward Milan, Julie Ann Milan, Joy Lynne Milan, and two grandchildren. His wife of nearly 60 years, Alverse R. Brewster, died in 2014.
He had a beautiful voice, his son said, and he loved singing to people he thought needed to be cheered up. He would volunteer at the Salvation Army bucket outside Walmart in the holiday season, singing to people as they walked inside.
Milan loved the song, “Don’t worry, be happy.”
“He was a good and valuable servant,” his brother Robert Milan said. “He served his community and America well. He’s an icon.”
Milan’s virtual funeral service is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 20, at 11 a.m.
Bill Lukitsch contributed to this story.
