Lester Aglar Walton (April 20, 1882 – October 16, 1965)[1][2] was a St. Louis-born Harlem Renaissance polymath and intellectual, a well-known figure in his day, who advanced civil rights in significant and prescient ways in journalism, entertainment, politics, diplomacy and elsewhere.

the Unbleached American, an early black minstrel and vaudeville comedian who (by some historians’ reckoning) was the first African-American performer to play before a white audience on Broadway.

"[7][8][9][10] “Black Bohemia” with Will Marion Cook and the protest song "Jim Crow Has Got to Go," popular during the early days of civil rights marches, are among Walton's better known compositions.

[11][12][13] A seminal figure in early film criticism, Walton is considered to be among the earliest to understand the direct and indirect educational power of onscreen imagery.

[15] In an ultimately successful, and seemingly modern campaign, Walton, with help from the Associated Press, advocated for the media to capitalize the "N" in "Negro," and eliminate the use of the word "Negress" altogether.

[17] During his decade-plus tenure there, he successfully concluded several important treaties, while also negotiating the terms of an American air base, and helping Liberia build a market for rubber exports.

[3] Walton's contributions to the culture, discourse, and advancement of civil rights were recognized in his time with three honorary degrees: in 1927, he received a Master of Arts from Lincoln University in Chester, Pennsylvania.

In an oft-cited 1909 column called "The Degeneracy of the Moving Picture Theatre," he railed against the profiteering dehumanization that led to a prominently displayed sign on Sixth Avenue, advertising "JOHN SMITH of PARIS, TEXAS, BURNED at the STAKE.

"[20] Warning readers to expect more of the same: "if we do not start now to put an end to this insult," he foretold the gruesome imagery of The Birth of a Nation, which he later classified as political art.

"[15] Among his many important observations was the insight that film could play a transformative educational role, and could be used to "emancipate the white American from his peculiar ideas" about the black community in ways that were "hurtful to both races.

Although they described him as "interesting in his own right ... [and noted he was] one of the few Negroes ever to serve in the diplomatic corps," they spent much of the article mocking Liberia's lack of "modernization."

Then populated by "repatriated American Negroes and their descendants," it was dependent on the U.S. for help with defense, produced few products outside rubber,[24] and was best known for several native tribes that practiced "voodoo and human sacrifice."

[12] Walton was also an original member of Mayor Wagner's Commission on Intergroup Relations, serving as commissioner who played a fundamental role in desegregating housing in the city.