John Wesley Winters Sr. (January 21, 1920 – February 15, 2004) was an American real estate developer, politician, and civil rights activist.

He chaired the council's Public Works Committee, developing and implementing a plan which used state funds to pave neglected streets in black neighborhoods.

His family suffered from financial difficulties throughout his youth, and after his mother died when he was thirteen years old he moved to New York City to live with his sister.

[5] During World War II he attempted to enlist in the United States Armed Forces, but was disqualified from service due to scars left by a childhood illness.

[9] He applied for work as a deliveryman for a dairy company in Raleigh, but, feeling that he would be denied a job because he was black, he returned to Brooklyn to wait tables at Lundy's Restaurant.

[10] By 1951 he had been promoted to supervisor and, making a higher salary, he purchased land along Hargett Street and designed and built his own house for his family.

[3] With the help of lumber supplier Cliff Benson and banker John Hervey Wheeler, he was able to secure the financing and supplies to build three homes by the end of the year.

[7] In the 1980s it built Wintershaven, an affordable housing complex for the elderly, and erected a few small shopping centers in southeast Raleigh.

[3] Winters distributed literature for W. Kerr Scott's successful North Carolina gubernatorial campaign in 1948 while delivering dairy (the company he worked for, Melville Daries, was owned by Scott's brother)[14] and he campaigned for Terry Sanford's and John F. Kennedy's successful respective bids for the North Carolina governorship and United States presidency.

[28][a] When a dispute arose over segregated movie theaters in North Carolina, Sanford sent him to Washington D.C. to discuss the matter with United States Attorney General Robert F.

[29] He was a member of the "Oval Table Gang", an informal group of community leaders that met in Ralph Campbell Sr.'s home to discuss strategies to desegregate Raleigh schools, plan demonstrations, and assist black candidates for public office.

[30] On January 18, 1963, the governor appointed Winters to the 24-man Good Neighbors Council, a committee tasked with promoting youth employment and desegregationist business practices.

[31] In the spring he helped mediate between black protesters and community activists and Raleigh Mayor William G. Enloe, who were in a dispute over segregated cinemas operated by the latter.

[34] Winters chaired the council's Public Works Committee for four years,[17] and developed and implemented a plan which used state funds to pave neglected streets in black neighborhoods.

[38] Two years later he ran as a Democrat for a Senate seat of the 14th district, representing portions of Wake, Lee and Harnett counties.

[39] Winters campaigned for the United States House of Representatives seat in North Carolina's 4th congressional district in 1984, but lost in the Democratic primary election.