Matthew Walker Jr. remembered as civil rights warrior

Matthew Walker Jr., a Freedom Ride veteran and key leader in the sit-in movement that desegregated Nashville’s lunch counters, was remembered Saturday as a civil rights warrior, statesman and lieutenant in the fight for equality.

Friends, family and admirers packed Nashville’s Clark Memorial United Methodist Church Saturday afternoon to celebrate the life of a man who as a 19-year-old Fisk University student helped make Nashville the first Southern city to desegregate its lunch counters in 1960.

Walker died last Sunday at the age of 74.

Walker, the son of the late Matthew Walker Sr., a prominent black doctor in Nashville, and Alice Walker, carved his own history as part of a group of black college students — including fellow Fisk University alumni U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and Diane Nash — who led protests throughout the segregated South.

Kwame Lillard, a civil rights contemporary and friend of Walker, finished his remarks Saturday by telling the story of how the two were among a group of teenagers who showed up one day to a “white-only” swimming pool at Centennial Park. He said then-Nashville Mayor Ben West responded by closing that pool and other city pools for good.

“We were warriors and we won,” Lillard said. “We — meaning not just the students, but Nashville and those who believe in goodness and God.”

Walker was a graduate of the second integrated class of Father Ryan High School, a private Catholic school in Nashville. He went on to Fisk University and later served in the military before attending Columbia University in New York. He would become a community organizer of the AFL-CIO in New York and later New Orleans.

One year after the 1960 sit-ins, Walker traveled with his peers to Alabama and then to Mississippi as part of the Freedom Rides, a movement that saw civil rights activists ride interstate buses to the South to challenge the segregation policies that restricted use of public buses.

Walker got his teeth knocked out during one protest, but remained steadfast in his belief in nonviolent demonstrations preached by The Rev. James Lawson.

“God sent the students to Nashville,” said Rip Patton, a Freedom Ride activist who rode alongside Walker in what was the third bus to depart to Nashville in May 1961. “We were the proving ground for what would happen not only in Nashville, the United States, but all over the world. Nashville was simply a battleground to get us ready for the Freedom Rides.”

Patton choked up as he told mourners that as Walker makes his way to heaven he’ll be singing, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around” — a famous African-American civil rights hymn.

The church then broke into song.

Walker was remembered by friends and family for his wisdom, good-natured personality, love of history — he knew every date of the civil rights movement — and involvement at the Clark Memorial United Methodist Church in North Nashville, where he was the organizer of the annual Clark Fish Fry. He was a devoted father, they said, an avid reader and a family man who liked to hunt and fish.

Walker's funeral service was kicked off by a dedication and song by a dozen Fisk University fraternity brothers of Omega Psi Phi. A niece played a spiritual song on violin, and two of his nephews took turns speaking about a man they looked to for guidance.

“I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that I would not be able to practice law and do what I do had it not been for the things that Uncle Walker did during his time,” said Randolph Giddings, one of Walker's nephews who works as an attorney. “I know that.”

The Rev. Herbert Lester, pastor of Clark Memorial United Methodist Church, performed Walker's eulogy and benediction. He said Walker came from a chapter of history where they “fought to end the evils of segregation and racism, and all that it involved — not only because of the limits it put on their behavior, but because of the violence it did to their soul.

“Matthew Walker Jr. was a warrior, and he went to that place where warriors go,” Lester said.

Walker is remembered by his brother Daniel P. Walker of Nashville; his son, Dr. Matthew Walker III, (Anna); his daughter, Monica Nicole Walker; grandson, Matthew Walker IV; nephews Brandford Giddings Jr. and daughter N’namdi, Randolph Giddings; niece Candace Giddings Koney-Laryea (Dr. Daniyal Koney-Laryea), and their children Nurah, Nabil and Daniyal Nii Laryea, and other relatives.

-The Tennessean