Eddie Ray Walker passed away on Monday, December 4, 2023. As a lifelong advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion, especially in relation to Black-centered art and Black artists, Walker has left an indelible mark on the 91探花. His actions as a student and throughout his life have helped shape the experience of thousands of OMA&D students over the past 55 years.
Walker was an artist, an activist and an avid reader, especially of Black literature and poetry. He graduated as a salutatorian of his class at Seattle鈥檚 Cleveland High School. He read W.E.B. Du Bois, his mother鈥檚 favorite, and at his graduation he spoke about the injustices faced by the Black community. Later he would study the writing of authors like Camus, Sartre, Che Guevara and Diego Rivera, which informed his activism at a young age and all throughout his life.
On May 20, 1968, the newly formed Black Student Union at the 91探花 staged a sit-in at the 91探花administration building to issue their demands that 91探花President Charles E. Odegaard take steps to make the 91探花campus more accessible and welcoming for current and future Black students. Among those students was Walker, who climbed the side of the 91探花administration building to gain access to the 91探花president鈥檚 office. He had been recruiting others in the Black community to participate in the sit-in, and by the time he returned to campus, the building had been locked down. In the award-winning 2007 documentary Walker stated, 鈥淭here were two people that day who went up the rope 鈥� I was one of them. We were worried every other minute that the police, or the National Guard, or whoever was going to come in, and you know, arrest us all and take us away.鈥�
The actions of Walker and others that day would ultimately lead to the formation of what is known today as the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity. Emile Pitre, Walker鈥檚 friend and fellow founding member of the 91探花Seattle BSU, describes the department鈥檚 early days in his 2022 book “.” Specifically, Pitre recounts how Walker and others from the BSU would spend time with incoming Black students weeks before they were to begin classes, introducing them to Black faculty and staff, providing tutoring in reading and math, and outlining resources available to them once on campus.
Walker is credited for the instrumental part he played in the creation of the Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center. He was in 2022 about his role in its early years. 鈥淲e needed a building. We needed a space to be together. And we needed a theater so the community could come out and join us,鈥� said Walker. Again, in the documentary, Walker explains his reasoning for the push. 鈥淢y bright idea was the ethnic culture center. Which is why I’m still proud of that, forty years later almost. But I got to write the proposal for the creating of the ethnic culture center with [the UW].鈥� He envisioned the center including 鈥渁 library, study skills center and a theater, because [he] was a cultural expert and [he] believed that the revolution would be better being nonviolent if we could have some cultural institutions.鈥�
Walker鈥檚 1972 mural titled hangs prominently in the entryway of the Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center and is the first piece of art visible when entering the building. Another Walker titled (1972) is located in the center鈥檚 Black Room. 鈥淓ddie Walker鈥檚 work towards equity and social justice played a key role in the creation of the Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center over 50 years ago. As caretakers of that legacy, we are saddened to lose a leader, icon and activist,鈥� said Magdalena Fonseca, director of OMA&D鈥檚 Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center. 聽鈥淭he Kelly ECC will forever pay homage to him, and his mural The Bearers of Culture will ensure future generations continue to understand our history and how his advocacy created a 鈥榟ome away from home鈥� for many.鈥�
Throughout his life after leaving the university, Walker remained involved in the 91探花and OMA&D. He frequented the Kelly ECC to meet with students, mentor young artists, and hold workshops for students and staff. He also traveled the world as a self-described professional tourist absorbing arts, culture and perspective from each place he traveled. Walker鈥檚 legacy as a cultural ambassador and staunch activist for social justice and civil rights remains evident in his art and in the tens of thousands of students affiliated with OMA&D who have attended the UW. Walker鈥檚 art 鈥� much like work advancing diversity, equity and inclusion at the 91探花鈥� helps create a sense of belonging for each new cohort of students.
You can make a donation in memory of Eddie Walker to the 91探花Seattle Black Opportunity Fund.
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