Walter Edward Fauntroy

Congressman Walter Fauntroy was the first African American delegate from the District of Columbia to the U.S. House of Representatives and the first African American delegate in Congress. In 1970, Congress passed the District of Columbia Delegate Act, which provided the District of Columbia with representation in the House of Representatives for the first time since 1875. Under this act, Fauntroy was elected in a special election and served from 1971 to 1991 (92nd-101st Congresses). Though he could not vote on the House floor, Fauntroy could submit legislation to the House and vote on the committee level. Fauntroy served on the District of Columbia; Banking and Currency; Banking, Currency, and Housing; Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs; Select Assassinations; and Select Narcotics Abuse and Control committees. Before his time in office, Fauntroy was a civil rights leader. Martin Luther King Jr. appointed him to serve as director of the Washington Bureau of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He also served as D.C. coordinator for such historic marches as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March in 1965, and the Meredith Mississippi Freedom March in 1966. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him vice president of the White House Conference on Civil Rights in 1966 and Fauntroy served as a member of D.C. City Council from 1967 to 1969. Fauntroy earned a bachelor of arts degree from Virginia Union University and a bachelor of divinity degree from Yale University Divinity School. He was the pastor of the New Bethel Baptist Church until he retired in 1991.