Photo courtesy the Dr. and Mrs. Wyatt Tee Walker Collection, Boatwright Memorial Library, University of Richmond
The legacy of civil rights leader the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, who died in January, lives on through those who remember his work. On Oct. 22, the University of Richmond will commemorate and celebrate Walker’s life and achievements in its Wyatt Tee Walker Symposium.
Walker served as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s chief of staff and executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference until 1964. He was integral as a strategist for the growth and success of the civil rights movement. And as theologian and pastor, he preached and published his message of standing, or sitting in, in defiance of racial intolerance and inequality. For 37 years, he was senior pastor at Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in Harlem, New York, where he advocated for affordable housing as urban affairs liaison for former New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.
The event will be held in the Tyler Haynes Commons from 2 to 7:15 p.m., beginning with a preview of Walker’s personal collection of photographs, speech recordings and letters, which he donated to the school in 2015. Patrice Rankine, dean of arts and sciences at UR, will moderate a panel discussion at 3 p.m. about Walker’s contributions. The Rev. Joseph Evans, dean of the Morehouse School of Religion and Walker’s close friend, will give a 6 p.m. keynote lecture on Walker and the economic justice-centered Poor People's Campaign of 1968.
The event is free and open to the public. View registration information and the complete schedule.
