Legendary Little Rock civil rights attorney and State Representative John Walker died Monday, October 28 at his home at the age of 82. Rep. Walker served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2011 until his death and was involved in some of the state’s highest-profile discrimination and civil rights cases.
We extend our deepest sympathies to State Representative Walker’s family and the Arkansas State Legislature, says NBCSL President and South Carolina State Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter.
Rep. Walker, whose childhood education in segregated schools informed his half-century legal crusade for equality and civil rights, became a household name in Arkansas through his work on the Little Rock School Desegregation Casea 32-year court battle over the racial make-up of the Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Pulaski County School districts.
Aside from representing black families in the long-running desegregation case, he also fought discrimination in the workplace, housing, elections, policing, the judiciary and other school districts.
Family, friends, and legislators filed through the Arkansas State Capitol on Thursday, where the body of State Representative John Walker lie in state, to pay their final respects at a ceremony held in the Capitol rotunda. The funeral for Rep. Walker is scheduled for St. Mark Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, at 11 a.m. Friday.
To read more about Rep. Walker’s lifetime of service and accomplishments, visit: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/oct/29/walker-a-civil-rights-pioneer-as-lawyer/