Dr. David Harris knows exactly where his 37-year medical career began, and it wasn’t in a classroom. Standing before the crowd at this year’s NAACP Freedom Fund dinner in Lawton, the retired endocrinologist and Lawton-raised son of a military family credited civil rights pioneers like Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher and George McLaurin for the degree he earned. The dinner’s theme,“We the People,”echoed through his remarks as he traced the road from the March on Washington and Bloody Sunday to Oklahoma’s own desegregation battles.
The Lawton NAACP branch has been part of this community since 1954, and Saturday’s event honored the longtime members and activists who kept that work going across the decades. Harris closed with a message aimed squarely at the present: progress isn’t permanent, and staying vigilant means more than remembering history. Register and vote, he urged. Attend community meetings. Track the decisions being made at City Hall and at the state and federal capitols.
The evening was both a celebration and a challenge, tying Lawton’s story to the broader American story and asking everyone in the room to be a shoulder for the next generation. So we want to hear from you: who in your family or community opened a door that you walked through? Share their story in the comments.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.