Fauntroy, Walter Edward, 1933

Title:

Fauntroy, Walter Edward, 1933

Description:

Bio: Walter Edward Fauntroy (b. February 6, 1933, Washington, D.C.), was a Delegate from the District of Columbia. He attended Washington, D.C., public schools, graduating from Dunbar High School in 1952. He earned his B.A. from Virginia Union University, Richmond, Virginia in 1955, and his B.D. from Yale University Divinity School in 1958. He has served as the pastor of the New Bethel Baptist Church since 1959. He is the founder of the Model Inner City Community Organization in 1966, and served as its director until 1972. He served as director of the Washington Bureau, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, from 1960 to 1971. He was vice chairman of the District of Columbia City Council from 1967 to 1969, and vice chairman of the White House Conference to Fulfill These Rights in 1966. He was national coordinator of the Poor People’s Campaign in 1969, and chairman of the board of directors of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia. He was a member of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights from 1961 to 1971, and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1972. He was elected as a Democrat a Delegate to the Ninety-second Congress, by special election on March 23, 1971, then reelected to the nine succeeding Congresses, serving from March 23, 1971 to January 3, 1991. He was an unsuccessful candidate for nomination for mayor of Washington, D.C., in 1990.

Source:

L-R: Walter Fauntroy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rev. Ralph Abernathy, President Lyndon B. Johnson. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with civil rights leaders, Oval Office, White House, Washington DC, 8/5/1965. Photo # a1020-5 by Yoichi Okamoto. White House Photo Office collection, LBJ Presidential Library, public domain.

Relation:

LBJ Connection: Director, Washington bureau, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1960-1971; Member, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, 1961-1971; D.C. coordinator,March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,1963; Founder and director, Shaw Urban Renewal Project; Vice Chair, White House Conference to Fulfill These Rights, 1966