Lester Aglar Walton

Background

Lester Walton was born on April 20, 1882 in St. Louis, Mo. , the son of Benjamin A. Walton, a public school janitor and custodian, and of Ollie May Camphor.

Education

After he graduated from the segregated Sumner High School, his father engaged a white tutor to help him pass an examination for a certificate of graduation from a business school.

Career

Walton's interest in golf led to his selection as a writer on golf and reporter for the daily St. Louis Star-Sayings (1902 - 1906). Assigned to interview a noted bandmaster at a leading hotel, Walton was directed to use the freight elevator because he was black. He refused and resolutely confronted his editor with the situation. His refusal to yield won him use of the passenger elevator. The experience helped shape his life. In 1906, Walton left his job and moved to New York City. Attracted to the Negro theater, he first wanted to write plays, but he soon returned to journalism as managing editor of the New York Age (1908 - 1914). Walton wrote drama reviews for the Age, which led to his becoming manager of the Lafayette Theater in Harlem. He was the Lafayette's manager in 1914-1916 and again in 1919-1921, spending the intervening years as managing editor of the Age. He took a leave of absence in 1918 to join the party, led by R. R. Moton, that President Woodrow Wilson assigned to inspect and report on the condition and role of black American soldiers in France. The next year he went to Versailles as the Age's correspondent at the peace conference. In 1922, Walton began almost ten years on the New York World. A column under his byline became a feature of the Sunday edition; it dealt with many subjects, including his own observations and reactions in race relations. Notable among his concerns was his campaign, dating back to 1913, for the capitalization of "Negro" in newspaper and magazine articles. In this Walton had the support of the Associated Press. No black had been accorded a place of such prominence in the American press, and his position led to increasing attention to his views and proposals. After a short period on the New York Herald Tribune in 1931, Walton returned to the Age as associate editor in 1932. During much of this period he was publicity director for the National Negro Business League (1926 - 1935). A Democrat at a time when most black leaders were Republican, Walton was in charge of publicity for the black division of the Democratic National Committee during the presidential campaigns of 1924, 1928, and 1932. His impressive political work received the attention of Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York, who after becoming president appointed Walton envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Liberia in July 1935. Walton made Monrovia a site of international negotiations beneficial to the United States and its allies in the conduct of World War II. He spent much of 1937-1939 negotiating treaties between the United States and Liberia on such matters as commerce, navigation, aviation, conciliation, extradition, and consular relations. In 1941 he negotiated an agreement authorizing the landing of American troops on Liberian soil and giving the United States the right to build an air base there. In 1943 he worked out an agreement for the construction of a port in Liberia. During his long residence Walton traveled throughout Liberia, informing himself intimately on the republic's capabilities and needs. This knowledge led Liberia to choose him as adviser to its delegation to the United Nations in 1948-1949. When Liberia celebrated its centennial as a republic in 1947, the Associated Press assigned Walton to write an extensive feature, "Republic of Liberia Celebrates Full Century of Independence, " on the historical and political significance of the occasion, for worldwide distribution. Liberia awarded Walton its highest decoration, the Grand Band, Humane Order of African Redemption. Back in New York in 1946, Walton served on the Municipal Commission on Intergroup Relations (later Human Rights). He died in New York City.

Achievements

• A founder of the Negro Actors Guild, Walton was active in the Coordinating Council for Negro Performers. Among American blacks of his generation, the soft-spoken Walton had few rivals in uncompromising determination when human rights was the issue.

Politics

Walton's career in politics began in 1913 and with the assistance from the associated press, he launched a movement for the universal spelling of the word Negro to begin with the capital "N". He was also an active democrat who served as director of publicity in the Colored Division of the Democratic National Committee during 1924, 1928 and 1932.

Membership

Walton was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, the first inter-collegiate Greek letter organization established for African Americans.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• Mayor Robert F. Wagner described him as "one of New York City's distinguished men ever striving to improve understanding and tolerance always at the heart of a situation with a newspaperman's intuition and a diplomat's dexterity. "

Connections

On June 29, 1912, he married Gladys Moore; they had two daughters.

Father:

Benjamin A. Walton

Mother:

Ollie May Camphor

Spouse:

Gladys Moore