Conditions Governing Use

Access

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

Immediate Source of Acquisition

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

Processing Information

Processed by Taylor McNeilly and Andrea Kohashi.

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 preident 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.

Scope and Contents

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.

Arrangement

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

Separated Material

Dr. Walker's personal library has been separated from the collection and is housed within the Galvin Rare Book Room. These items can be found in our online catalog by searching "Dr. & Mrs. Wyatt Tee Walker Collection."

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Abernathy, Ralph, 1926-1990
• Actions and defenses
• African American churches
• African American civil rights workers
• African American women civil rights workers
• Audio-visual materials
• Barnett, Ross R. (Ross Robert), 1898-1987
• Birmingham (Ala.)
• Black people -- Civil rights
• Boycotts
• Campaign management
• Christianity and justice
• Church management
• Civil rights
• Civil rights -- Africa
• Civil rights -- America
• Civil rights -- Religious aspects
• Civil rights demonstrations
• Civil rights movements
• Civil rights workers
• Civil rights workers, Black
• Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
• Correspondence
• Discrimination in employment
• Finance
• Freedom Rides, 1961
• Invoices
• Jackson (Miss.)
• Jackson, Mahalia, 1911-1972
• King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968
• Letters
• Lewis, John, 1940-2020
• Libel and slander
• Management
• Manuscripts
• New York (N.Y.)
• Nonbook Materials
• Pamphlets
• Periodicals
• Petersburg (Va.)
• Photographs
• Project management
• Race relations
• Racism
• Richmond (Va.)
• Scholarships
• Segregation
• Shuttlesworth, Fred L., 1922-2011
• Social justice
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• State action (Civil rights)
• United States. Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Voter registration
• Walker, Theresa Ann
• Walker, Wyatt Tee
• Women civil rights workers