Fauntroy, Walter E., 1933-

<p>Walter Edward Fauntroy (born February 6, 1933) is the former pastor of the New Bethel Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and a civil rights activist. He is also a former delegate to the United States House of Representatives and was a candidate for the 1972 and 1976 Democratic presidential nominations as a favorite son, as well as a human rights activist. His stated life work is to advocate public policy that "declares Good News to the poor, that binds up the broken hearted and sets at liberty them that are bound" in the United States and around the world.</p>

<p>The fourth of seven children, Walter Fauntroy was born and raised in Washington, D.C.. His mother, Ethel (Vines) Fauntroy, was a homemaker. His father, William Thomas Fauntroy, Sr., was a clerk in the U.S. Patent Office. Walter grew up in the Shaw community in Northwest Washington, and attended the New Bethel Baptist Church just a few blocks from his home.</p>

<p>He graduated second in his class at Washington's all-black Dunbar High School in 1951, and the members of his church held fund-raising dinners to provide him with a college scholarship. When he graduated from Dunbar in 1952, his church gave him enough money to pay for his first year at Virginia Union University in Richmond. He pledged Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity while at Virginia Union, where he graduated with honors in 1955, and then earned a B.Div. from Yale Divinity School in 1958.</p>

FAUNTROY, Walter Edward, a Delegate from the District of Columbia; born in Washington, D.C., February 6, 1933; attended Washington (D.C.) public schools; graduated from Dunbar High School, Washington, D.C., 1952; B.A., Virginia Union University, Richmond, Va., 1955; B.D., Yale University Divinity School, 1958; pastor, New Bethel Baptist Church, 1959 to present; founder and director, Model Inner City Community Organization, 1966-1972; director, Washington Bureau, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1960-1971; vice chairman, District of Columbia City Council, 1967-1969; vice chairman, White House Conference to Fulfill These Rights, 1966; national coordinator, Poor People's Campaign, 1969; chairman, board of directors, Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Social Change, Atlanta, Ga.; member, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, 1961-1971; delegate, Democratic National Convention, 1972; elected as a Democrat a Delegate to the Ninety-second Congress, by special election, March 23, 1971; reelected to the nine succeeding Congresses (March 23, 1971-January 3, 1991); was not a candidate for renomination to the One Hundred Second Congress in 1990 but was an unsuccessful candidate for nomination for mayor of Washington, D.C.; is a resident of Washington, D.C.

<p>The Reverend Walter Edward Fauntroy was born in Washington, D.C., on February 6, 1933, to Ethel Vine and William T. Fauntroy. Graduating from Virginia Union University with a B.A. in 1955 and from Yale University Divinity School with a B.D. in 1958. The following year he became pastor of his childhood church, New Bethel Baptist Church in Washington, D.C, where he still serves as pastor.</p>

<p>In 1961, Fauntroy was appointed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as director of the Washington Bureau of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He then worked as the Washington, D.C., coordinator of the historic 1963 March on Washington and directed the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March, the 1966 Meredith Mississippi Freedom March, and the 1983 20th Anniversary March on Washington. In 1966, Fauntroy founded and served as the president of the Model Inner City Community Organization, a group committed to community development and neighborhood development.</p>

<p>In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Fauntroy vice chairman of the White House's "To Fulfill These Rights" conference. One year later, Johnson appointed him vice chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, and in 1971 Fauntroy was elected as the District of Columbia's delegate to Congress. He served ten terms in this role and designed and engineered many significant changes in national public policy. He was also one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Fauntroy served for six years, as chair of the Subcommittee on International Development, Finance, Trade and Monetary Policy while he was member of the House Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee. In 1977 Fauntroy founded the National Black Leadership Roundtable for leaders of National African American organizations. Fauntroy was chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Brain Trust on Black Voter Participation and Network Development.</p>

<p>In 1984, Fauntroy was arrested at the South African Embassy as part of the Free South Africa Movement. Fauntroy is married to Dorothy Simms and they have two children: Marvin Keith and Melissa Alice.</p>

<p>Walter Fauntroy’s leadership in the civil rights movement paved the way for his two–decade career as the District of Columbia’s Delegate in the House of Representatives. While he was concerned with many issues during his tenure, Fauntroy dedicated much of his career to attaining home rule (a municipal government elected by the people) for Washington, DC, and to ending apartheid in South Africa. “When you carry a big stick you can walk quietly,” Fauntroy once remarked, revealing his political strategy, which embraced compromise and coalition–building to accomplish his legislative goals.</p>

<p>Walter Edward Fauntroy was born in Washington, DC, on February 6, 1933, the fourth of seven children of Ethel (Vine) and William Fauntroy, a U.S. Patent Office clerk. Fauntroy graduated from Dunbar High School in Washington, DC, in 1952 and earned a B.A. from Virginia Union University in 1955. On August 3, 1957, Fauntroy married Dorothy Simms. The couple had a son, Marvin, and later adopted a baby girl, Melissa Alice. After receiving a bachelor of divinity degree from Yale University Divinity School in 1958, Fauntroy became pastor of Washington’s New Bethel Baptist Church.</p>

<p>Through his ministry and his devotion to improving conditions for African Americans, Fauntroy, like many other black clerics of the era, became actively involved in the civil rights movement. Impressed by the DC minister’s organizational skills and commitment to the movement, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., appointed Fauntroy director of the Washington bureau of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). After honing his political skills as the SCLC’s lobbyist in Congress, Fauntroy urged President Lyndon B. Johnson and Congress to pass civil rights legislation. President Johnson subsequently appointed Fauntroy vice chairman of the 1966 White House Conference “To Fulfill These Rights,” which focused on recommendations for improving the lives of African Americans after the passage of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. Fauntroy also served as the District of Columbia coordinator for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In preparation for the Washington march, Fauntroy and other leading civil rights activists, such as future Representative Andrew Young of Georgia, assisted King with his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. When Fauntroy learned that King would have only eight minutes to speak, he indignantly told his mentor, “They can’t limit you—the spokesman of the movement—to that.” Fauntroy also helped organize the 1965 march from Selma, to Montgomery, Alabama, and was national coordinator of the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, an extended vision of King’s plan to draw attention to poverty and force government action to combat it.</p>