Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation

MSS 16561, Nikuyah Walker City Council Campaign Ephemera, Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was donated by Kathy Zentgraf to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on 19 January 2018.

Biographical / Historical

Nikuyah Walker was born in Charlottesville Virginia (1980) and became the city's first black female mayor in November 2017, after being elected to the Charlottesville City Council. She had many years of experience as an advocate for racial and social justice. Walker was the first Independent candidate to be elected to the City Council since the 1940s.[1] She ran for one of two open City Council seats under the slogan "Unmasking the Illusion," [2] in reference to the history of racism underlying Charlottesville's liberal atmosphere. After the Unite the Right rally in August, her campaign took on new urgency. Walker publicly pressured the City Council and then-mayor Michael Signer to answer questions about why a permit had been issued for the rally, and why the City Council was not addressing issues raised by the event.[2]

Walker participated in the The National Memorial for Peace and Justice to honor the memory of John Henry James, who was lynched just outside Charlottesville in 1898.Her goals embrace inclusion, equity, and progress. Another priority was increased affordable housing in the city .[3]

She graduated from Charlottesville High School in 1998 and went on to earn a B.A. in Political Science from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2004. She served oppressed and neglected people in Charlottesville and worked in several non-profits-as a Substance Abuse Clinician, an HIV Prevention Educator, and a Community Organizer.

Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikuyah_Walker which used these references 1 Beckett, Lois (2018-08-07). "Charlottesville's first black female mayor: 'We're not a post-racial nation'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2018-12-08. (and retrieved 2021-09-10) 3 Lim, Clarissa-Jan. "Charlottesville Has Elected A Black Woman As Mayor For The First Time Ever". Bustle. Retrieved by Wikipedia 2018-12-08. Biography notes retrieved from Wikipedia 2021-09-10 4 Stockman, Farah (2018-07-21). "Year After White Nationalist Rally, Charlottesville Is in Tug of War Over Its Soul". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-08. Biography notes retrieved from Wikipedia

2 Sourced from People Pill website that used Wikipedia article on 24 Dec 2019. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. https://peoplepill.com/people/nikuyah-walker/ Retrieved 2021-09-10

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Buttons (information artifacts)
• handbills