Walter Armstrong

Walter Armstrong was born in Albany, Georgia during the era of the second World War. He went on to participate in the Albany Civil Rights Movement when it swept Albany State College in 1961. After being suspended, he continued to work for SNCC. He spent most of his time canvassing neighborhoods to get African Americans to register to vote. Armstrong also worked in the Poor People’s Campaign in “Tent City” in Washington D.C. He noticed there was an interesting trend for those that were activists and male. Once suspended, many of them were drafted into the military, so he was pulled from the movement and went to East Asia to fight in Vietnam. Once discharged in 1964, he worked for the Treasury Department and later Hubert Humphrey’s campaign in 1968, when Humphrey ran against Richard Nixon. As a part of Humphries campaign, he traveled across the country meeting with interested voters. Armstrong never forgot the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement. This touched him for the rest of his life, whether it was working for the Democratic Committee or as a labor union recruiter for the AFL-CIO, he continued to work for the grassroots folk, the little man. He wanted to make things better. Today, he says the movement inspired him to be his best!

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