Bill Walker was a black actor best remembered for his role as Reverend Sykes in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird.
At the start of his acting career in 1946 he was relegated to roles as domestic servants.
When elected to the Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild in 1952, he and Guild president Ronald Reagan reported on Hollywood's bias.?
No significant improvement occurred, so Walker continued to lobby.
He joined with the NAACP?in 1963 to add a non-discrimination clause to the Guild's theatrical agreement.
In 1972 the Guild formed the Ethnic Minorities Committee and?Walker became a founding board member.
Learn more about Bill Walker in his papers at UW's American Heritage Center.
Credit American Heritage Center