William J. Thompkins
Kansas City health practitioner and administrator
### Kansas City health practitioner and administrator

In the early 1910s, Thompkins refused demands to leave a whites\-only [Pullman car](/wiki/Pullman_car "Pullman car") at [Vinita, Oklahoma](/wiki/Vinita%2C_Oklahoma "Vinita, Oklahoma")Negro Tries to Kill Jim Crow Law in Oklahoma, Denver Post (Denver, Colorado), January 29, 1911, page 25 while on a train from Kansas City to [McAlester, Oklahoma](/wiki/McAlester%2C_Oklahoma "McAlester, Oklahoma"). Thompkins was arrested for disturbance and fined $15\. Thompkins challenged the action and the case reached the [United States Circuit Court of Appeals](/wiki/United_States_Circuit_Court_of_Appeals "United States Circuit Court of Appeals") where the court affirmed the decision of the Kansas City District Court not to award Thompkins damages on January 28, 1914\.Jim Crow Law is Upheld, Denver Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Colorado), Thursday, January 29, 1914, page 8

He was a noted orator. In August 1911, Thompkins gave a speech at the National Negro Educators Congress in [Denver, Colorado](/wiki/Denver%2C_Colorado "Denver, Colorado") about the progress of blacks in America. He noted three views on the best way forward for blacks: industrialism associated with [Booker T. Washington](/wiki/Booker_T._Washington "Booker T. Washington"), higher education associated with [Inman E. Page](/wiki/Inman_E._Page "Inman E. Page"), and agriculturalism, and said that there is no single pathway to progress but that as each of these was important for white people, so to must they all be important for blacks.Negro Educators. Denver Post (Denver, Colorado) August 14, 1911, page 1\-2 In 1928, he founded the newspaper, the *Kansas City American*, which was the first black Democratic Newspaper in the city. In addition to serving as managing editor, he also applied for a license to put a black\-formatted radio station on the air, in January 1930\. Had he been successful, he would have been radio's first black owner."Kans. City Asks Radio Station." *Baltimore Afro\-American*, February 1, 1930, p. 18\. Unfortunately, his application was subsequently turned down by the Federal Radio Commission in late February."Deny Radio Right." *(Mobile AL) Press\-Forum Weekly*, March 1, 1930, p. 1\.

In late 1914, Thompkins was appointed superintendent of the Old General Hospital (Negro department) which served black and Mexican patients in Kansas CityColored Physician Honored. Plaindealer (Topeka, Kansas) Friday, November 27, 1914, Volume: 16 Issue: 47 Page: 5 (also called General Hospital No. 2\) the first black man to receive this appointment. His performance in that role was exceptional, lifting its grade from Class D to Class A before leaving in 1922\. Over the next five years he practiced in [Tulsa](/wiki/Tulsa "Tulsa"), [Oklahoma City](/wiki/Oklahoma_City "Oklahoma City"), [Okmulgee](/wiki/Okmulgee%2C_Oklahoma "Okmulgee, Oklahoma"), and [Muskogee](/wiki/Muskogee%2C_Oklahoma "Muskogee, Oklahoma"), all in Oklahoma. In 1926 he returned to Kansas City where he was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Health of Kansas City in the department of Hygiene and Communicable Disease, the first black man to hold this position.News of Colored People in the City and County, Winston\-Salem Journal (Winston\-Salem, North Carolina), Friday, May 14, 1926, page 19 In this position, Thompkins wrote a study which pressed for an improvement of housing conditions in the face of high prevalence of tuberculosis in Kansas City blacks.A Demand for Better Housing Plaindealer (Topeka, Kansas), Friday, July 8, 1927, Volume: 29 Issue: 27 Page: 4 His survey was used as a model by the [American Public Health Commission](/wiki/American_Public_Health_Commission "American Public Health Commission") and the housing plan he developed in this work was presented by President [Herbert Hoover](/wiki/Herbert_Hoover "Herbert Hoover") to the [National Housing Commission](/wiki/National_Housing_Commission "National Housing Commission") in 1930\.


How did the Jim Crow Law affect African Americans beyond Oklahoma?