Educator and Community Leader
William "Sonny" Walker, a native of Arkansas and graduate of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, was a civil rights activist and an accomplished public servant.
William “Sonny” Walker, native of Arkansas and graduate of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, was a civil rights activist and an accomplished public servant. His life was filled with unceasing activity and he stayed busy his entire life by serving others.
William “Sonny” Walker was born on December 13, 1933 to Mary Coleman and Reverend James David Walker. Walker grew up under the guidance of a strong family and he was deeply involved and committed to his church. He was raised by his Baptist minister father and stepmother Nettie Walker Harris in his hometown of Pine Bluff Arkansas. His grandmother was also heavily involved in his life.
He was a member of the Boy Scouts of America, and the Drama Society. Also an athlete, he played baseball, football, and basketball. After graduating from Merrill High School in Pine Bluff he attended the Arkansas Agricultural Mechanical & Normal College (AM&N College) now known as the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Sonny majored in English and History and served as the president of the institution’s Drama Society.
He considered education to be a lifelong process. Later in his life, after his careers had already begun, he attended Arizona State University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Arkansas, and the Federal Executive Institute, where he would gain several more qualifications, including degrees in Administration and Counseling. He also gained several honorary degrees with one coming from Bennett College, a historically black liberal arts college for women.
William Walker and his Family
William “Sonny” Walker held a great reverence for family. His father was a Baptist Minister and he encouraged Sonny to have close relationships with fellow church members who became like extended families to him. After graduating from college, Sonny began teaching. He married his childhood sweetheart Lorraine with whom he had four children: Jimmy, William Jr., Cheryl, and Lesli. Later, he would spend a lot of time with his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Even though employment opportunities continued to force him to move to new locations frequently, he did everything he could to make sure his family was provided for.
Career of an Accomplished Public Servant
Following graduation from AM&N College, William “Sonny” Walker went on to work as a teacher, leader, and administrator at Horace Mann High School (Now Horace Mann Magnet Middle School). Horace Mann is located in East Little Rock off of I-30 and E Roosevelt Road. He coached, taught honors English and served as proctor of the debate team and drama club to the benefit of a generation of students. In 1957, with the historic Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education and the decision to integrate Little Rock Central High School, Sonny helped prepare the Little Rock Nine and even helped ferry them to and from Central. He also managed the campaign of T.E. Patterson who became the first African American elected to the Arkansas School Board in 1966.
In 1967, he moved back to Arkansas where he became the executive director of the Economic Opportunity Agency. In 1969, Sonny accepted an appointment by Arkansas Governor Winthrop Rockefeller to serve as the head of the Arkansas State Economic Opportunity Office. This appointment was controversial, as it was the highest office that a black man had achieved up to that point in Arkansas. This posting paved the way for more African Americans in government after him. From there he rose even higher. He was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon to be director of the Office of Economic Opportunity for the entire Southeast region of the United States. He maintained this position when the Office of Economic Opportunity was succeeded by the US Community Services Administration.
Sonny served as director through four US Presidents, from Nixon to Reagan. While holding the office of Director of the US Community Services Administration, in 1972 he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he was division director of the US Department of Housing and Urban Renewal. By 1990, he worked with Coretta Scott King as a member of the board for the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change and as Coretta Scott King’s speechwriter. Sonny too, participated in the successful movement to make Martin Luther King Day a federally recognized national holiday.