Political consultant, civil rights activist

Astaunch Republican and a civil rights activist, Arthur Fletcher advised four Republican presidents and for three years headed the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. He had a keen interest in education, personally providing financial support for the legal case Brown v. Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas , where he wanted to desegregate public schools. His interest in the rights and benefits of blacks was demonstrated in many ways throughout his lifetime, including his support of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. He established the framework for affirmative action; as a result, he was labeled by some as the “father of affirmative action.” In so doing, he created opportunities for millions of women and minorities. He often spoke publicly on civil rights and affirmative action. Because of his views, at times, he was at odds both with his political party and with his race.

Arthur Allen Fletcher was born on December 22, 1924, in a black neighborhood in Phoenix, Arizona. He was the son of Andrew A. and Edna Miller Fletcher. At the time of his birth, his father (according to some sources his stepfather) was a career military man stationed at Camp Huachuca while serving in the all-black cavalry regiment in the U.S. Army. During his youth the family moved frequently, living in poor neighborhoods in Arizona, California, Oklahoma, and Kansas. While living in the Watts district of Los Angeles, Fletcher became a gang leader by age thirteen. Since the family moved around, young Fletcher attended seventeen different schools by the time he was in the eighth grade. Although Edna Fletcher held college degrees in education and nursing, employment for blacks at that time was difficult to find; consequently, she worked as a live-in maid. This arrangement meant that Arthur Fletcher lived with various families, including American Indians and Mexican Americans.

Early on, Fletcher considered becoming a minister. He developed an interest in civil rights when he was in the seventh grade, after hearing educator and presidential adviser Mary McLeod Bethune speak. According to Lottie L. Joiner for Crisis magazine, she told students in Fletcher’s school to “always carry a brief for Black folks.” He followed her advice and became an activist while in high school. In 1943 Fletcher organized his first civil rights protest at the Junction City Junior/Senior High School, boycotting the yearbook because it placed photographs of black students at the back of the book. He also distinguished himself on the school’s football team as a halfback and defensive end. To build up their fire before playing against white teams during that racially-charged time, Fletcher and his black teammates read accounts of black lynchings.

Fletcher married at age eighteen, and at age nineteen, after graduating from high school in Junction City, Kansas, he enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II and served in a tank division. He was wounded while serving in Europe under General George C. Patton and was awarded a Purple Heart. He was discharged in 1945. On his return to the states, Fletcher had football scholarship offers from Northwestern, Iowa, and Indiana universities. He had a brief stay at Indiana but the lack of suitable housing in Bloomington led him to accept a scholarship offer from Washburn University.

Fletcher enrolled in Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas and studied under the G. I. Bill of Rights and with a scholarship from the university. Fletcher excelled in football, earning Little All-American honors; he was the sixth leading rusher in small college teams through the country. A political science and sociology major, he also gained practical experience by working part-time in a state agency in Kansas as well as for legislative committees. In 1950, Fletcher graduated from the university with a bachelor of arts degree.

In 1950, Fletcher joined the Los Angeles Rams as defensive end. The Rams soon had their quota of five blacks on their team and in 1954 sold Fletcher to the Baltimore Colts, making him the Colts’ first African American team member. From there he moved to the Hamilton (Ontario) Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League. By now he had five children, so the meager salary of $5,100 was insufficient for his needs. Fletcher returned to Kansas with the hope of coaching high school football. Unsuccessful, he supported his family by working long hours in menial jobs for several years. He applied for a management trainee program with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Topeka, but was turned down; instead, he was hired on in a factory job with the company. Fletcher decided to enhance his education and in 1953–54 did postgraduate work in economics and education at Kansas State University. Much later he took a law degree from Chicago’s LaSalle Extension University. Still later, according to one source, he earned a Ph.D. degree in education.