One of the leaders in the Civil Rights movement, Wyatt Tee Walker, will discuss his work in social justice and his purpose-filled life in an open forum Thursday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. at Virginia Commonwealth University.The Rev. Dr. Walker served as Martin Luther King's chief of staff and he is best known as the architect of Project C, the series of marches, sit-ins and boycotts in Birmingham, Ala. in 1963. Those pivotal days in Birmingham helped change public opinion that set the stage for passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1965.
Walker, born in Massachusetts in 1929 and raised in New Jersey, moved to Virginia in 1950 to study at Virginia Union University. As a pastor and activist in Petersburg, he staged marches and demonstrations. He later became a leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and served as Martin Luther King's chief of staff. He also helped organize the March on Washington. Walker earned a doctorate in ministry and served as the influential pastor at Harlem's Canaan Baptist Church of Christ for nearly 40 years. He has devoted his life to social justice, including the abolition of apartheid in South Africa.
The event is free and open to the public and will be held at the Virginia Commonwealth University Student Commons
Commonwealth Ballrooms, 907 Floyd Ave. For further information: (804) 828-1384.
PHOTO CREDITS:
Above right: May 10, 1963: The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., left, and the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker announce a compromise with Birmingham businesses that allowed blacks to work as cashiers. Photo by Tom Self, Birmingham News. Above left: The photograph of Walker was taken in 1995 during a visit to Richmond. Photo by Alexa Welch, Richmond Times-Dispatch.