Civil Rights activist Matthew Walker Jr. dead at 74

Matthew Walker Jr., a civil rights activist who participated in the Freedom Rides and the historic sit-ins that desegregated Nashville's lunch counters in 1960, died Sunday in Nashville. He was 74.

Mr. Walker was among 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 region. He was arrested and got his teeth knocked out while demonstrating, but remained committed to the principles of nonviolent resistance that he had learned from the Rev. James Lawson in Clark Memorial United Methodist Church.

The sit-ins spurred citywide action, as blacks and whites alike boycotted department stores that refused to integrate their lunch counters. The protesters' efforts were rewarded when Nashville became the first city in the South to desegregate its lunch counters.

Mr. Walker's son, Dr. Matthew Walker III, said his father was "a man committed to spiritual, civic and social betterment."

"He was never satisfied with the status quo," the younger Matthew Walker said of his father. "He had a tenacious vision for freedom for all people. He was a dedicated veteran of the civil rights movement until his death."

During an interview in February, Mr. Walker gave voice to that dedication. He said the group of protesters were fiercely loyal to one another and to their approach.

Fisk students have long history of fighting injustice

"We knew that nonviolence had worked in other places and there was nothing that convinced us it could not work here," he said. "It was the kind of thing that once you're in, you're in."

After the sit-ins, Mr. Walker traveled with his peers to Alabama to bolster the Freedom Rides, a movement driven by protesters who fought segregation in buses and at bus stations by traveling on bus lines through the South.

Mr. Walker and his friends were on the bus when it rolled into Jackson, Miss. Police arrested them at the station, but the movement continued.

"It was Nashville students who revived, resurrected, breathed new life into the Freedom Rides," Mr. Walker said. "We were victorious veterans, and we didn't want anyone to disprove the effectiveness of nonviolent demonstrating."

Mr. Walker's father, the late Matthew Walker Sr., was a prominent black doctor and official at Meharry Medical College.

Mr. Walker's funeral will be held at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Clark Memorial United Methodist Church.

Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and on Twitter @tamburintweets.