Walter Sillers Jr. | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 56th Speaker of theMississippi House of Representatives | |
| In office January 4, 1944 – September 24, 1966 | |
| Preceded by | Sam Lumpkin |
| Succeeded by | John Junkin |
| Member of theMississippi House of RepresentativesfromBolivar County | |
| In office January 4, 1916 – September 24, 1966 | |
| Preceded by | George Shelby |
| Succeeded by | John L. Pearson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1888-04-13)April 13, 1888 Rosedale,Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | September 24, 1966(1966-09-24) (aged 78) Jackson, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Parents | |
| Alma mater | University of Mississippi |
Walter Sillers Jr. (April 13, 1888 – September 24, 1966) was an American lawyer, politician, landowner, andwhite supremacist.[1] Alegislative leader fromMississippi, he served as the 56th Speaker of theMississippi House of Representatives. An outspokenwhite nationalist, Sillers has been referred to as one of the most racist political leaders in Mississippi's history. He was one of the wealthiest people to have ever served in the Mississippi legislature. He served on theMississippi Sovereignty Commission,[2] a state agency established to combat integration and civil rights organizing.
Sillers was born inRosedale, Mississippi toWalter Sillers, Sr. andFlorence Warfield Sillers.[3][1] He was a brother of the columnist and segregationistFlorence Sillers Ogden.[4] A member of a prominentMississippi Delta family, his paternal grandparents wereplanters and slaveholders in Rosedale. His maternal grandfather was Colonel Elisha Warfield, a planter andConfederate military officer who served in the2nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment. He was a great-great grandson ofElisha Warfield and a great-grandnephew ofMary Jane Warfield Clay.[5] He was a grandnephew ofCharles Clark, a Confederate general who served as Governor of Mississippi.[6]
Sillers grew up in Rosedale and was raised in theMethodist Episcopal Church.[6] He lived with his family in a largeVictorian-style mansion on Levee Street.[7] He was educated atSt. Andrew's-Sewanee School, anEpiscopal boarding school inSewanee, Tennessee.[6] He attended theUniversity of Mississippi and was a member of St. Anthony Hall.[1]
Sillers was a lawyer and a member of the American Bar Association.[1] He served in theMississippi House of Representatives from 1916–1966.[6] He served asSpeaker of that body from January 4, 1944 until his death on September 24, 1966.[8] He was a delegate to theDemocratic National Conventions of1916,1924,1944,1948,1952, and1956.[9][7]
He has been called "one of the most racist political leaders in Mississippi's history."[10]
He inherited multiple plantations from his father and held interests in banks, oil companies, and other businesses in Mississippi.[6] Due to his inheritance and business ventures, he was one of the wealthiest people to have ever served in the Mississippi legislature.[6]
Given Sillers' preeminence in the state legislature, several public buildings were named for him during his fifty years in office. The fine arts complex was named after him at thehistorically blackMississippi Valley State University. TheWalter Sillers State Office Building, a government high-rise inJackson, Mississippi is also named after him.[7]
Delta State University's Walter Sillers Coliseum, built in 1960 with proceeds from a sale of bonds which Sillers opposed,[11] has also come under scrutiny, with public calls for the building to be named afterLusia Harris instead,[12] anAfrican American woman who led theDelta State Lady Statesmen basketball team to three consecutive national championships and became the first and only woman ever drafted into theNBA.[13]
Sillers himself, an outspokenwhite supremacist, advocated for the removal of the names of white namesakes from public spaces should they become integrated.[14]
On November 22, 1911, he married Lena Roberts, the daughter of longtime state senatorW. B. Roberts.[1][15] He was a member of theFreemasons and theShriners.[1] Sillers died at the age of 78 on September 24, 1966.[1] He was buried at Beulah Cemetery in Beulah, Mississippi.[1]
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