TO THE CHAPTER INVISIBLE
Jesse Milan, Sr. 1928–2021 Barrier-Breaker, Lawrence, KS Educator, Civic Leader U.S. Air Force
By Aaron Williams
E
ducator, civil rights activist, and notable figure in the history of Kansas, Jesse Milan was the first African-American pub-
member. While at Baker, Jesse estab- lished Project Reachback, a program that allowed fifth-graders from the Kansas City, KS Public Schools to spend a day at a college campus. During the 1970s, Milan served both as an Assistant Professor of Education at Baker Uni- versity in Ottawa, KS, and the Director of Housing Opportunity for Kansas City KS, under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He maintained his public housing involve- ment throughout the 1970s and 1980s as an independent consultant through his firm. In addition to teaching and public service, Milan served on numerous community boards and volunteered in his community. The Optimist Clubs of Kansas elected him governor, and he served on the board of the Kansas Men- tal Health Association. In 1971 the Milan family joined the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, the historic African American congregation in Kansas City, KS. During their years at Ascension, he was senior warden. Milan and his wife led the 100th-anni-
a B.S. degree in education and an M.A. in education from KU in 1954. He later obtained a Specialist in Education cer- tificate from Emporia State University in 1970. Milan began his professional career with the Lawrence, KS Unified School District #497 as a physical education teacher and counselor at Central Junior High School in 1954 as the school district's first African American em- ployee. In 1956, he became the physi- cal education consultant for the city's entire network of elementary schools. Over the next 15 years, he circuited to all Lawrence, KS elementary schools and taught every public-school child in grades K-6. A beloved teacher, Milan taught thousands of local Lawrence, KS school children the fundamentals of rope climbing, gymnastics, softball, basketball, square dancing, in-door and out-door sports and games, the values of good sportsmanship, and the fun and importance of physical fitness. In 1970, he joined Baker University's faculty as its first African-American
lic school teacher in the college town of Lawrence, KS. Milan was a state president of the Kansas branches of N.A.A.C.P. from 2000 -2004 and led in the 1960s to create the first integrated public swimming pool in Kansas. He maintained a long relationship with his alma mater, the University of Kansas (KU), and with this chapter of initiation, the Mu of Kappa Alpha Psi. Brother Jesse Milan (Mu 1952) entered the Chapter Invisible on February 8, 2021, at age 92. Jesse Milan was born in Dupree, OK, to Clarence W. and Willie Mae (née Harrison) Milan and moved at an early age to Kansas City, KS, where he grew up with his eight siblings. He gradu- ated in 1946 from historic Sumner High School in Kansas City, KS, where he ran track. Milan enlisted in the United States Air Force and served in Hawaii and during the Korean Conflict rising to the rank of Staff Sargent. He attended KU on the G.I. Bill and earned in 1953
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VIRTUAL 85 TH GRAND CHAPTER MEETING
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