Walter Frauntroy

About

American pastor, civil rights activist, and politician who served as a delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives and was a candidate for the 1972 and 1976 Democratic presidential nominations. He became friends with Martin Luther King Jr. in college, and he became director of the Washington bureau of the Southern Christina Leadership Conference. As director, he served as D.C. Coordinator of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and the 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery. He was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Before Fame

He attended Virginia Union University, graduating with honors in 1955. He went on to earn a Bachelor's of Divinity from Yale Divinity School in 1958.

Trivia

After Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, he met with Lyndon B. Johnson and Stokely Carmichael. He urged the public to follow King's policy of nonviolence and led a prayer at King's funeral. He ran for mayor of Washington D.C. in 1990.

Family Life

He was the fourth of seven children of Ethel Fauntroy and William Thomas Fauntroy. He and his wife Dorothy Simms have two children, Marvin Keith and Melissa Alice.

Associated With

He defeated two opponents in the race to become a delegate to the House of Representatives, with the support of his fellow pastors and his friend Coretta Scott King.