This February, we’re excited to celebrate Black History Month by lifting up the stories of people, places, and organizations that have shaped Kansas City neighborhoods in powerful ways. Each Friday throughout the month, we’ll be sharing a spotlight that connects Black history to our work today through the lens of our pillars: Leadership & Governance, Planning & Development, Technology & Communications, Health & Safety, and our newest pillar, Culture, Creativity & History.
Remembering James B. “Jim” Wilson
Community development is a relatively new area of public policy born from the unique challenges facing American cities after World War II. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), for example, was established in 1965.[i] Understanding the need for HUD and the lives of the local leaders who implemented federal policies on the ground – the life of James B. Wilson is illustrative of the Kansas City experience.
The complexity of forces impacting urban neighborhoods in the decades before and after the invention of HUD is staggering. Physically, American cities and suburbs were facing rapid transformation. Partially fueled by the disruption of highways and suburban development, cities were building up and tearing down at a dramatic pace. The response to the wholesale demolition of neighborhoods, and the disproportionate impact on African American, Hispanic, and working families and businesses, was a task that had to be addressed by local leadership.
At the same time – the Civil Rights movement changed American government across all areas of policy: education, housing, transportation, neighborhoods, and even defense policy. The impact of the Civil Rights movement led to a series of “firsts” across the country. The election of the first African American Mayors in major cities, the growth of Black urban political regimes[ii], and the establishment of modern political organizations – exemplified by Freedom Inc in Kansas City. These political changes played out in the lives and work of local leaders like Jim and Yvonne Starks Willson.[iii]
Who was Jim Wilson?
James B. Wilson’s career exemplifies the role of the “behind the scenes” civic leaders who advance community development programs and get things done. He carved out a career of public service in the tumultuous decades following WWII in Kansas City. Researching the papers of Yvonne Starks Wilson as part of our work with the Heart of the City Neighborhood Association and the historic Dunbar neighborhood for their forthcoming exhibit at the Museum of Kansas City[iv] – I came across a treasure trove of papers about her husband Jim. Viewing Mrs. Wilson’s clippings of her husband’s newspaper stories – one can feel the glow of a proud wife. Today their collection is housed at the State Historical Society of Missouri[v] archive on the UMKC campus.
Born in Sabetha, Kansas in 1923, Jim Wilson’s list of accomplishments is lengthy. He started off as a waiter on a railroad dining car, worked in real estate as a broker, and eventually became a trusted advisor for multiple Mayors and political organizations. He worked as Personnel Director of Jackson County MO, and as Director of KC Housing Authority. He served on the boards of the Bruce R Watkins Cultural Heritage Center and Museum, Truman Medical Center, and Swope Community Builders.
Jim Wilson’s career in the private sector as a realtor, and in the public sector in a variety of leadership roles, illustrates the challenges that African Americans in Kansas City faced in the fight for equal rights and representation. In 1968, he worked to register voters to ensure that a Fair Housing Ordinance[vi] was passed in Kansas City. Throughout that year he worked with Mayor Ilus Davis to address the underlying inequality and discrimination that impacted Kansas City’s Black youth. Wilson was appointed as member of the Advisory Commission on Human Relations where he served with Alvin Brooks and others.
National programs, local implementation
Federal policies don’t implement themselves. With the United States’ preference for local control, it’s not surprising that each major metropolitan area across the country has its own stories and legacies based on how local officials implemented or fought against the policies of federal agencies and cabinet-level leaders.
Changes to infrastructure create profound repercussions for the communities that must accommodate the local impacts of regional and national systems. The development of the South Town Freeway – now known as the Highway 71 / the Bruce R Watkins Drive – was a conflicted process. Jim Wilson and other African America leaders sought to address the myriad problems created by the demolition of more the 2,000 housing units along the highway right-of-way.
The acquisition of these units and the relocation of families who lost their homes was dramatic and the men and women involved in the process sought to advocate for the better outcome in a bad situation. Men like Jim Wilson rode on the mayoral bus tours, observed the “blighted” neighborhood conditions, and worked to minimize the impact of demolition and displacement on their neighbors.
Neighborhood and housing policies are no different from highway and transportation policies – each must be developed in the context of local capacity, local elections, and the economic conditions of each metropolitan region. Within this world of policy innovation for better neighborhood conditions, Jim Wilson played a critical role in Kansas City and Jackson County.
Looking south…
Kansas City is a city of neighborhoods, but sometimes we are so involved in the local we fail to look up and see the big picture. Jim Wilson was a neighborhood and community advocate. He lived in Sheraton Estates – one of Kansas City’s post-WWII suburbs built within the city limits to serve the modern housing needs of the city’s Black leaders. His work as president of the Southtown Council in the 1990s helped to sustain a vision of community and business development along Troost and Prospect Avenues south of 47th Street – important corridors for UMKC and all of Kansas City. Looking up and down Prospect Avenue today – we see recent changes driven by the Central City Economic Development district and the 1/8 cents sales tax. On Troost several of the city’s best Jamaican and ethnic restaurants comfort hungry neighbors and attract visitors. The work of neighborhood associations and community organizations like Southtown Council continue to stabilize and grow healthy communities.
Given the decades of disruption and the root shock [vii]faced by Black neighborhoods in Kansas City, sometimes it seems like a miracle that there is anything left to champion and fight for today. The unfinished work of Jim Wilson and earlier generations of Black leaders who fought for the rights of African Americans and the neighborhoods east and west of highway 71 is a legacy for the living to build upon today.
According to his obituary – Jim Wilson loved fruit trees, picking fresh fruit and planting orchards. His life of public service and community development reminds us that our work to preserve and promote Black neighborhoods is not only for our neighbors today, but also for future generations and people we will never meet.
[i] In historical terms, this makes HUD a member of Gen X.
[ii] See Adolph Reed. “The black urban regime: Structural origins and constraints.” Comparative Urban Research 12 (1988): 140-187.
[iii] While Jim Wilson was not one of the three original founders of Freedom Inc, he was an advisory and board member as early as 1976.
[iv] https://museumofkansascity.org/museum-of-kansas-city/
[v] https://shsmo.org/visit/kansas-city
[vi] Fair Housing today: https://www.hud.gov/helping-americans/fair-housing-act-overview
[vii] Rootshock is a term coined by Dr. Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD to describe the repercussions of neighborhood demolition and displacement. https://www.mindyfullilove.com/root-shock
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