From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

Tucker, Charles Ewbank

(born: January 12, 1897  -  died: December 25, 1975) 

Charles Ewbank Tucker was a lawyer, a civil rights advocate, and a leader in the AMEZ Church. He also was co-editor of The Herald Tribune, a Louisville newspaper with co-editors William Warley and Huron Clark [source: The Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians by A. A. Dunnigan, p.528]. Tucker led early civil rights demonstrations and sit-ins in Louisville, KY, in the 1940s through the 1960s. Tucker also delivered the benediction at U.S. President Nixon's Inauguration in 1960. He was the husband of Rev. Amelia M. Tucker.

Charles E. Tucker was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Olivia and William Tucker. The family lived in Jamaica. He was a 1913 graduate of Beckford and Smith's school in Jamaica and a 1917 graduate of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He was the pastor of the Stoner Memorial AMEZ Church [at 1127 West Oak Street] in Louisville and completed the Kentucky Bar Exam in 1929. His son, Neville Tucker, was also a lawyer in Louisville. Charles E. Tucker became a bishop in 1956. He was a Republican.

Charles E. Tucker died in Louisivlle, KY, and he was buried at Eastern Cemetery.

For more see Life Behind a Veil, by G. C. Wright; and the Charles Ewbank Tucker biography in The Last Public Execution in America, by P. T. Ryan.

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Cite This NKAA Entry:

“Tucker, Charles Ewbank,” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, accessed July 26, 2024, https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/index.php/items/show/32.

Last modified: 2023-05-30 16:42:58