On Thursday, August 4, 2005 at 4:00PM a tribute to the life and legacy of Dr. Arthur Fletcher will be held at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 19th and Madison in Seattle. Dr. Fletcher is best known as the Father of Affirmative Action. He became involved in politics early in his career and was Vice Chairman of the Kansas Republican Party in the mid 1950s. He also worked for the Kansas Highway Commission where he gained working knowledge of the contracting and procurement process which later assisted him greatly in crafting the Revised Philadelphia Plan, the nation’s first Affirmative Action Program that was ruled legal by the federal court on June 27, 1969. Art Fletcher, the son of a Buffalo soldier, enlisted in the U.S. Army after high school. While serving in Europe during WW II, he was wounded and received a purple heart. Dr. Fletcher moved to Pasco Washington in 1965 to head up a co-op. In 1967 he ran for and won a seat on the city council in Pasco. He and the late Seattle City Councilmember, Sam Smith became the first blacks to win city-wide elections in the State of Washington.In 1968, he ran for Lieutenant Governor of Washington State. He defeated famed hydroplane driver Bill Munsey in the Republican primary and eventually lost by less than one percent of the vote. Fletcher served as advisor to Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. He was proud to serve as Assistant Secretary of Employment Standards in the United States Department of Labor, United States Delegate to the United Nations, Deputy Urban Affairs Advisor to President Ford, Vice Chairman of the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, and Chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Under his leadership as Executive Director of the United Negro College Fund the phrase: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” pierced America’s conscience. One of his most satisfying accomplishments was raising funds for Thurgood Marshall to pursue Brown vs. Board of Education. For further information, 206-786-2763
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