Charles A. Walton (Indiana politician)
Charles Atlas Walton (June 24, 1936 - February 19, 1996) was a lawyer and state legislator in Indiana.[1][2][3]
Biography[edit]
Walton was born June 24, 1936, in Lampkin, Mississippi, into a family of share-croppers who migrated in 1941 to Indiana.[4] He was educated in Indianapolis and graduated from Crispus Attucks High School in 1952.[1] He was awarded a scholarship at the age of 15 to allow him to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia from where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts in 1956.[4] He then went on to earn a Juris Doctor in May 1959 from Indiana University's law school at just the age of 22.[4] In 1965 he was inducted into the Crispus Attucks Hall of Fame.[5]
He married his college classmate Joan Blackshear Walton and they were together for forty years.[4]
Law career[edit]
He was admitted to the bar in Indiana and started to work as a deputy prosecuting attorney and later he started up in private practice in the law firm Mance, Kuykendall and Chavis.[4] He was a president of the Marion County Bar Association in 1975, a member of the NAACP and was chairman of several committees in the National Bar Association.[4] During his legal career he worked with several firms including Walton and Pratt that he started with his daughter, son and son-in-law in 1992.[6]
Politician[edit]
The racial issues of the early 1960s in Indianapolis prompted him to become involved in politics and he joined the Marion County Democratic Party where he was an active member.[4] Walton was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives representing Marion County in 1964.[4] During his service he sponsored a number of bills focussing on the issues of criminal justice reform, public education, housing and school lunch programs.[4]
In 1987 he ran for mayor in Indianapolis.[6]
Death[edit]
Walton died February 19, 1996, in Indianapolis and was survived by his wife and three children[1][6]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c ""THIRST FOR JUSTICE": INDIANA'S PIONEERING BLACK LAWYERS". Indiana Legal Archive. 23 February 2015.
- ^ Company, Johnson Publishing (January 9, 1965). "Ebony". Johnson Publishing Company – via Google Books.
- ^ Company, Johnson Publishing (February 24, 1966). "Jet". Johnson Publishing Company – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Charles Atlas Walton". March 9, 2021.
- ^ "Dr. Robert Collins and Charles A. Walton Inducted into Hall of Fame". images.indianahistory.org.
- ^ a b c "Obituary for Charles A. Walton Sr". The Indianapolis News. 20 February 1996. p. 16. Retrieved 16 November 2022.