If Kansas punishes schools for student walkouts, it will discourage free speech. Just as intended.

By: Max McCoy

Outlets: Kansas Reflector

Published: March 8, 2026

Words: 2,032

Last Updated: 2 days, 8 hours ago

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In February 1969, more than 400 students at two high schools in Kansas City, Kansas, walked out of their classes to protest the lack of Black history courses.

The students were from all-Black Sumner High School — the only high school in Kansas to be legally segregated — and from Wyandotte High, a school with a significant minority population, about two miles away.

Looking back now, it’s easy to see how these students contributed to …

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