REV. WALTER FAUNTROY

Rev. Walter Fauntroy holding little Yusef Kahlil
photo taken by Lori Anne William

Walter Fauntroy & my father, Herbert L. Woods, worked together in the Civil Rights movement in the DC area. Daddy was the Chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.) at the time... Rev. Fauntroy, as I knew him, was a helluva a singer. I am sorry. A heck of a singer. Better correct that. No telling you might know my mother.

Any who Rev. Fauntroy had an impact on my upbringing; his presence and the way he carried himself. Do you know Rev. Fauntroy, Rev. Samuel G. Hines, Bishops Smallwood, and McCollough were the four forces that stopped the Federal government from driving Route 395 through the Shaw community in Northwest Washington DC in the 1960's? These men, my father, and many others were powerhouses, and the women in those days. The women, their wives, and mothers, fed, and provided the motivation and means to create change. Those were serious and powerful times to learn the craft of manhood, adulthood, womanhood, and to be a young person being made ready for the future. I call upon them often. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories (8/04/12)