When Maryland became the second state in the nation to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a holiday, former Del. Kenneth Webster was the person to thank. It was his legislation that brought the holiday here.
Now, his service has ended. The two term member of the Maryland General Assembly, considered by all accounts a hard-working, no-nonsense, force to be reckoned with, died, after a prolonged illness, of kidney failure on Aug. 13 in Baltimore. He was 76.
A Baltimore native, Webster was in active service for the public good for most of his adult life. According to long-time friend Carl Snowden, director for Civil Rights in the Maryland State’s Attorney’s Office, Webster was a Morgan State University political science graduate and a U.S. Air Force veteran of the Korean War. He served in the General Assembly from 1970–78, participated in and led protests and demonstrations over the years and was instrumental in a variety of community projects and initiatives.
Webster was a founding member of the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus. In 1978 he fought alongside members of that caucus to keep the death penalty from returning to Maryland. According to an AFRO Feb. 18, 1978 article, he joined in the House of Delegates amendment strategy to stop the bill. His amendment was rejected and the measure passed.
Former Maryland Sen. Larry Young served with Webster in Annapolis. “The uniqueness about Kenny,” Young said, “was he didn’t have a whole lot of time for foolishness.
“He’d say, ‘Either we are going to be serious about the people’s business, or we’re not.’ I liked that about him.”
Vince Leggett, Webster’s chief legislative assistant in the late 1970s, said Webster provided a lot of mentoring and believed in youth leadership development. To that end, Leggett said, Webster established Urban Scientists, a youth leadership development organization that focused youth on issues of religion, education, environment, politics and healthcare from an urban perspective. Leggett, who served as president of the Urban Scientists, said, “Many of the ideas and concepts have evolved into other community organizations, such as Blacks of the Chesapeake.”
After his time in the General Assembly, Webster used his energies and political acumen as a political consultant and manager, playing, according to Carl Snowden, “a pivotal role in the elections of former Rep. Parren J. Mitchell, Maryland Sen. Joan Carter Conway, Annapolis Alderwoman Classie G. Hoyle, and Snowden’s own election as alderman.” He also worked on the presidential campaigns of Jesse Jackson and the election of President Barack Obama.
Snowden said Webster “saw politics as the great equalizer, which is why he pushed people to run for office.”
The 1980 Tent City in Annapolis, to highlight the plight of the poor in Maryland , had Webster as one of its principle organizers. He was also an orchestrator of a sleep-in demonstration at the Maryland state house in the mid-1980s to underscore the plight of the homeless.
Until his illness made it impossible, Webster continued to advocate and organize, being instrumental in the Martin Luther King Memorial on the Anne Arundel Community College campus and in the Coretta Scott King Memorial Garden at the Sojourner-Douglass College Southern Maryland campus in Edgewater.
He worked with the NAACP on a number of cases related to police issues and the school system. He was also instrumental in gathering support for one of the largest anti-Klan rallies in the state of Maryland.
He will be remembered for the many ways he contributed to the residents of Baltimore and the state of Maryland. But he will be remembered for other things as well.
“He will be noted for his sharp tongue,” said Snowden. “You either liked him or you didn’t. He was a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is person, no shrinking violet. He did not pull his punches.”
Snowden recounts a story, saying Webster once told a White politician: “Coming to you to get redress is like coming to the Klu Klux Klan to get a civil rights bill.”
Lewis Bracy, another long-time friend concurred with Snowden. “He was a tough cookie. He could be very cantankerous … when he didn’t think people were doing the right thing,” said Bracy. “If you weren’t doing what you were supposed to do , he would tell you about it.”
When the time in the day or week for politics had passed, according to Bracy, then you get to see “the fun side of Kenny Webster.” It was when he was hand dancing.
Bracy said a lot of people know Webster as one of the best hand dancers in the area, adding that he was instrumental in getting hand dancing groups in the Annapolis area and was active in the Hand Dancing Society in Baltimore.
“Kenny was a dancer,” said Bracy. “It was a lot easier to deal with him when he was dancing.”
“He will be greatly missed,” said Leggett. “But the good news is he planted a seed in African-American men and woman that is flourishing today – including me.”
Funeral arrangements are as follows:
A viewing for Del. Webster will be held from 2-7 p.m. Aug. 22 at Charles Scruggs Funeral Home, 412 East Preston St., Baltimore, Md.
A Christian wake and funeral service will be held beginning 9:30 a.m. for the wake, 10:30 am for the funeral on Aug. 23 at Faith Baptist Church, 833 North Bond St., Baltimore, Md.
Cards and condolences may be sent to Mrs. Phoebe Webster, 1211 Beaumont Ave., Baltimore, MD 21239.
In lieu of flowers contributions may be sent to The Hon. Kenneth L. Webster Scholarship, Sojourner Douglass College, 135 Stepney’s Ln., Edgewater, MD 21037.
