7^th Annual Lawton Soulful Story, “Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher”: Oklahoma Civil Rights Trail Blazer portrayed by Vanessa Adams-Harris. The free program begins at 7:00 PM at the Lawton City Hall Banquet Hall. There will be an optional dinner catered by Johns and Cooks Barbeque that begins at 6:00PM in the banquet hall. Tickets for the dinner are available at the Lawton Public Library and cost $15.00.

This year’s performance is Oklahoma Civil Rights Trail Blazer, Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher, a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement in Oklahoma. She applied for admission into the University of Oklahoma law school in order to challenge the state’s segregation laws. After suffering through bigotry and racial discrimination as a student, she went on to become a lawyer. She was born in Chickasha Oklahoma, a daughter of a minster. She would go on to be appointed by the governor of Oklahoma, David Walters, to the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma. Before her death in 1995, Fisher was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and also a professor at Langston University. In 1996 she was inducted posthumously into the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame.