Ann B. Walker

On November 1, 1923, Walker was born in Columbus, Ohio. She had 5 brothers. She married Linwood B. Walker. == Education ==

Walker graduated high school from East High School. She attended Prairie View A&M College in Texas on a tennis scholarship before receiving her bachelor's degree from George Williams College in 1944. == Career ==

Walker began working at the Ohio Sentinel, one of Columbus's first black newspapers, as a journalist, editor and columnist in 1949. One of her best known columns was called "Ann Walker's Party Line." Walker served as a Columbus Consumer Protection Committee member. Later in the 1970s, she began working at the Columbus's WLWC (now WCMH-TV) radio station, where she interviewed Martin Luther King Jr., Angela Davis, and then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter. It was at WLWC that she became the first woman in broadcast management at the station. In 1980, she became the creator and host of WCMH-TV's new public affairs program. That same year, President Jimmy Carter appointed Walker as special assistant to the director of The White House Public Affairs Office. She became the first black woman from Franklin County to receive a presidential appointment. Walker founded her own company, Ann B. Walker and Associates, in 1991. == Affiliations ==

Walker served on the boards of the Columbus Area Leadership Laboratory, Columbus Planned Parenthood, Columbus Metropolitan Club, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, and the Leukemia Society. She was the first black woman to serve on the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Board. She was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and served as the 24th Alpha Sigma Omega chapter president in Columbus, Ohio. She was a ruling elder at Bethany Presbyterian Church in Columbus as well. == Legacy ==

In 2000, she was featured in "Who's who in Black Central Ohio." She is also featured on the Long Street Cultural Wall. == References ==