VA-NW11 Thomas Calhoun Walker (1862-1953)

Marker text: THOMAS CALHOUN WALKER (1862-1953)

Here lived Thomas Calhoun Walker, the first black to practice law in Gloucester County and a civil rights spokesman who vigorously advocated education and land ownership for blacks. Mr. Walker was elected for two terms to Gloucester's Board of Supervisors, serving from 1891 to 1895. President William McKinley appointed him the Commonwealth's first black collector of customs in 1893. He became the only black to hold statewide office in President Roosevelt's Works Project Administration when he was appointed Consultant and Advisor on Negro Affairs in 1934.

Department of Conservation and Historic Resources, 1986.