[4] He then served pastorates in Indianapolis, Louisville, San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, Chattanooga, and Knoxville, Tennessee, before his assignment to Mother Zion Church in New York City in 1888.

In 1889, Walters was selected to represent the Zion Church in London at the World's Sunday School Convention, and went on to visit other parts of Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land.

[2] While in New York, he became acquainted with journalist Timothy Thomas Fortune, who was in the process of organizing his National Afro-American League, designed to protect African Americans against lynching and racial discrimination.

In March 1898, alarmed by an upsurge in violent lynchings of African Americans across the country, Walters asked Fortune to publish a nationwide appeal for a meeting of African-American leaders.

More than 150 leaders from across the country signed the call, which resulted in an organizational meeting in Rochester, New York, in September 1898, also attended by Susan B. Anthony and the widow of Frederick Douglass.

The Council met in Chicago (1899), Indianapolis (1900), and Philadelphia (1901), each time re-electing Walters to the presidency and adopting outspoken, occasionally radical resolutions.

At the meeting in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1902, Walters stepped aside to become chairman of the executive committee, and Fortune was promoted to president.

He was reelected at New York (1906) and Baltimore (1907), but the Council, now under the control of militant members of the Niagara Movement, gradually lost its cohesiveness and stability.

Writing to Wilson, after that meeting Walters said: "After leaving the White House the idea occurred to me that it might be a good thing to see the Senators who have declared themselves opposed to the Confirmation of colored men who are nominated by yourself for office."

The council soon dissolved, but Walters wasted little time seeking a new power base, emerging as president of the new National Independent Political League.