Jesse Ernest Wilkins Sr. (February 1, 1894 – January 19, 1959)[1] was a U.S. lawyer, labor leader, undersecretary in the Eisenhower administration and both the first African-American to be appointed to a sub-cabinet position in the United States Government and the first to attend White House cabinet-level meetings.

[2][3] After a falling-out with Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell, Wilkins resigned from his sub-cabinet post in 1958, but continued to serve on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.

[2][5] Wilkins had previously served the Eisenhower administration as acting chairman of the President's Committee on Government Contracts at the request of Val Washington.

[6][7] During his tenure with the administration he was a member of Equality Committee, working with E. Frederic Morrow, Val Washington, Joseph Douglas, James Nabrit Jr. and Samuel Pierce.

[9][10] On August 5, 1958, Wilkins met with President Eisenhower to plead for his job, saying that he needed six more months to qualify for a civil service pension.

[10][11] After resigning from his sub-cabinet post, Wilkins continued to serve on the Civil Rights Commission until his death two months later from another heart attack.

- d. November 1964, Brooklyn, N.Y., aged 65), who taught school in Chicago, was secretary to the women's division of the Methodist Church, and who also practiced law with her husband for 33 years.