Dr. and Mrs. Wyatt Tee Walker collection, 1953/2016

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Richmond
Rare Books and Special Collections
Boatwright Library
University of Richmond
28 Westhampton Way
Richmond, VA 23173
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Lynda Kachurek
Phone: (804) 289-8458
Fax: (804) 287-1840
Restrictions:

The majority of this collection is closed pending processing. Portions of four series are currently open to research, encompassing manuscript material dated through 1964.

Preferred citation:

[Box Number, Folder Number], MS-24, the Dr. and Mrs. Wyatt Tee Walker Collection, Book Arts, Archives, & Rare Books, Boatwright Memorial Library, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia

Summary

Extent:
50 Linear Feet
Creator:
Walker, Wyatt Tee, Walker, Theresa Ann, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.), Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967, King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968, National Lawyers Guild. Committee to Assist Southern Lawyers, Congress of Racial Equality, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Southern Conference Educational Fund, Highlander Research and Education Center (Knoxville, Tenn.), Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice, United States Commission on Civil Rights, and Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Abstract:
This collection includes material related to and collected by the Reverend Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker and his wife, Theresa Ann Edwards Walkers. Materials include personal papers and administrative files of Dr. and Mrs. Walker, audio recordings of Dr. Walker's church services, honors and awards given to Dr. and Mrs. Walker, photographs and slides taken by or depicting Dr. Walker, Dr. Walker's published works and unpublished manuscripts, and other memorabilia and ephemera. Also included is an oral history performed with Dr. and Mrs. Walker.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Box Number, Folder Number], MS-24, the Dr. and Mrs. Wyatt Tee Walker Collection, Book Arts, Archives, & Rare Books, Boatwright Memorial Library, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia

Background

Scope and content:

Materials in this collection include personal papers and administrative files of Dr. Walker, audio recordings of church services he led primarily at Canaan Baptist Church of Christ, photographs and slides taken by Dr. Walker and his family, honors and awards given to Dr. and Mrs. Walker, Dr. Walker's personal library, Dr. Walker's published books, and other memorabilia and ephemera. Also included is an oral history performed with Dr. Walker and his wife.

Currently, portions of Series 1 through 4 are available to research, encompassing all manuscript material through Dr. Walker's departure from SCLC in 1964. More material will be opened for research as processing work continues.
Biographical / historical:

The Reverend Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker was born August 16, 1928 in Brockton, Massachusetts. Raised primarily in Merchantville, New Jersey, Walker attended Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia, earning bachelor's degrees in chemistry and physics before attending VUU's seminary school for his Masters of Divinity. During his time at VUU, he married his wife, Theresa Ann Walker née Edwards, who would remain an active partner at his side throughout his life. While in seminary, Walker was the head of the university's Inter-Seminary Movement, where he first met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Walker and King would remain friends until King's assassination in 1968.

After graduating from seminary, Walker was called in 1953 to serve as the pastor of the historic Gillfield Baptist Church in Petersburg, Virginia, serving until 1960. During this time he founded the Petersburg Improvement Association, served as president for the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter, and co-founded and served as state director for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). He also actively worked to integrate the city of Petersburg, successfully desegregating the Petersburg Public Library, lunch counters, and bus stops in the city.

In 1960, Walker was recruited to serve as the first full-time executive director and chief strategist of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Dr. King's civil rights organization. He served in this role until 1964, overseeing the organization of several notable events in the Civil Rights Movement, including Project "C", SCLC's involvement in the Birmingham campaign, and the 1964 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In 1961, Walker and his wife were arrested as Freedom Riders in Jackson, Mississippi. Mrs. Walker also survived a hotel bombing with their children and multiple other arrests for her role in the Civil Rights Movement.

After leaving SCLC in 1964, Walker worked with the Negro Heritage Library, an organization focused on getting Black literature into the public education system. In 1968 Dr. Walker was called to serve as senior pastor at Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in Harlem, New York, where he served for 37 years. He was installed as pastor in late March by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who gave his final sermon in New York City at the installation service before his assassination a few weeks later. Walker then organized King's funeral in New York City at the express request of Coretta Scott King, an event he would later call "the crowning achievement of my organizational career." He would prove to be a productive pastor for Canaan, at one point receiving a million dollars annually in tithes, expanding the church building, and leading multiple church trips to the Holy Land and other international destinations including Japan.

During his time at Canaan, Walker continued his civil rights work, expanding his scope to international civil rights, serving on the board of Al Sharpton's National Action Network and a number of other organizations. A vocal supporter of anti-apartheid, Walker visited South Africa several times, serving as an election monitor in Souther Africa's first open election and becoming close friends with Nelson Mandela, who would visit Canaan Baptist Church as one of his first stops on his first presidential visit to the United States. Walker also worked with Governor Nelson Rockefeller as a special assistant on urban affairs. When national banks pulled out of Harlem, Walker opened Freedom National Bank to serve the Black community. He also developed a number of public housing projects, at one time acting as the largest single public housing developer in New York. Frustrated with the failures of the public education system, Walker worked to help pass the New York State charter school law and co-found the first charter school in the state, the Sisulu-Walker Charter School of Harlem.

In his down time, Walker enjoyed sailing, belonging to a local yacht club in Yonkers, New York, and photography. After receiving a doctorate in ethnomusicology from Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, he went on to teach seminary classes at Virginia Union University and United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.

Walker retired from Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in 2004 after a series of strokes, moving to Chester, Virginia. In 2015 he and Mrs. Walker donated the Dr. and Mrs. Wyatt Tee Walker Collection to the University of Richmond, recording an oral history with the university in 2016. He remained in Virginia with his wife until his death at the age of 89 on January 23, 2018.

Acquisition information:
Material was donated to the university by Dr. Walker, his wife, and their family.
Processing information:

Processed by Taylor McNeilly and Andrea Kohashi.

Arrangement:

Material is arranged into multiple series, with three series currently open for research.

  1. Series 1: Biographical: Theresa Ann Walker
  2. Series 2: Biographical: Wyatt Tee Walker
  3. Subseries 2.2: Correspondence
  4. Subseries 2.3: Civil Rights and Religious Work
  5. Series 3: Gillfield Baptist Church
  6. Subseries 3.1: Sermons
  7. Subseries 3.2: Programs and ephemera
  8. Subseries 3.3: Administrative records
  9. Series 4: Southern Christian Leadership Conference
  10. Subseries 4.1: Administrative
  11. Subseries 4.2: Correspondence
  12. Subseries 4.3: Publications
  13. Subseries 4.4: Programs and campaigns
  14. Subseries 4.5: Legal work
  15. Subseries 4.6: Related organizations
  16. Subseries 4.7: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Physical facet:
This is an approximate estimate while we wait for the final deposit and complete processing.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard