Bishop George W.C. Walker, Sr.

Bishop George W. C. Walker, Sr., was born on October 11, 1940, in Montgomery, Alabama, to Lemon Louise Pace Walker and Reverend Roosevelt Leon Walker. He attended public schools in Fair Hope, Greenville, and Luverne, Alabama. He received his A.A. degree from Clinton Junior College, in Rock Hill, South Carolina, his A.B. degree in 1970 from Benedict College, in Columbia, South Carolina, and his M.Div. degree in 1971 from Hood Theological Seminary, in Salisbury, North Carolina, but also attended Livingstone College, in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Between 1960 and 1972, Walker pastored Rock Hill AME Zion Church and Piney Grove AME Zion Church, in Pageland, South Carolina; St. James AME Zion Church and Mt. Airy AME Zion Church, in Chesterfield, South Carolina; Foundation AME Zion Church and Tabernacle AME Zion Church, in Rock Hill, South Carolina; and Jones Memorial AME Zion Church, in Columbia, South Carolina. From 1972 to 1988, he pastored Greater Walters AME Zion Church in Chicago, Illinois. In 1974, Walker led Greater Walters in relocating from 3800 S. Dearborn St. and acquired new property at 8400 S. Damen Ave, where he hosted the 1976 AME Zion General Conference. In 1988, Reverend Walker was elected the eighty-first bishop of the AME Zion Church. As bishop, he presided over the North Eastern, Piedmont, Western, and Southwestern Delta Episcopal Districts. In 1996, he served as chairperson of the AME Zion Church Bicentennial Historical Commission. In 2004, Bishop Walker was elevated to senior bishop of the AME Zion Church. In 2010, he helped organize the “Great Gathering” of the AME, AME Zion, and CME denominations in Columbia, South Carolina. Bishop Walker then retired as senior bishop of the AME Zion Church in 2012.

Walker has served in leadership positions on several boards of the AME Zion Church and with ecumenical and civic organizations, including as a member of the Publishing House Board and the Restructuring Committee of the AME Zion Church; a member of the Harriet Tubman Foundation and past president of the Harriet Tubman Home, Inc.; a member of Balm in Gilead; chairman of the board of trustees of Livingstone College; a member of the governing board of the National Council of Churches; and in various conference and connectional-level positions. He also has been actively involved with the World Methodist Council, the NAACP, and the World Council of Churches.

Walker has been the recipient of numerous awards and citations, including honorary doctorates from Livingstone College (DD) and Chicago Theological Seminary (DHL) and twice as one of Ebony magazine’s “100 Most Influential Black Americans.”

Walker and his wife, Geraldine Jackson Walker, live in Flossmoor, Illinois. They have two daughters, Cynthia Lalita Walker Carr and Deborah Olivia Walker Richmond, and two sons who are pastors in the AME Zion Church, Reverend Dwayne Anthony Walker and Reverend George W. C. Walker, Jr.

Bishop George W. C. Walker, Sr., was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on October 5, 2021.