Labor leader, civil rights activist, minister. One of the country's foremost champions for organized labor and civil rights. She served as an advisor to the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She was the first female local union president of the United Packinghouse Food and Allied Workers. During her 30-year career as a labor leader Wyatt fought for equality as a campaigner for women's rights in the work place and as an active protester alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the early 1960s. In 1961, Wyatt was appointed by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to serve on the Protective Labor Legislation Committee of President John F. Kennedy's Commission on the Status of Women, and she later served three terms on the Illinois Commission on the Status of Women. She along with her late husband, the Rev. Claude S. Wyatt, Jr., founded the Vernon Park Church of God in Chicago, starting with a group of about 25 people in a renovated garage. By 2000, the congregation had grown to nearly 1,000 and is widely known for its work with homeless people, seniors and youth. The couple also helped to found Operation Breadbasket and served on the board of Operation PUSH. Wyatt later in life founded and was the CEO of the Wyatt Family Community Center in Chicago. She was named one of Time Magazines's Women of the Year in 1975 and received a similar honor from The Ladies Home Journal in 1977. Ebony Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential black Americans from 1980 to 1984. She was also inducted to the Civil Rights Walk of Fame in 2005. Wyatt died at age 88 in a local hospital after a long illness.
Labor leader, civil rights activist, minister. One of the country's foremost champions for organized labor and civil rights. She served as an advisor to the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She was the first female local union president of the United Packinghouse Food and Allied Workers. During her 30-year career as a labor leader Wyatt fought for equality as a campaigner for women's rights in the work place and as an active protester alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the early 1960s. In 1961, Wyatt was appointed by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to serve on the Protective Labor Legislation Committee of President John F. Kennedy's Commission on the Status of Women, and she later served three terms on the Illinois Commission on the Status of Women. She along with her late husband, the Rev. Claude S. Wyatt, Jr., founded the Vernon Park Church of God in Chicago, starting with a group of about 25 people in a renovated garage. By 2000, the congregation had grown to nearly 1,000 and is widely known for its work with homeless people, seniors and youth. The couple also helped to found Operation Breadbasket and served on the board of Operation PUSH. Wyatt later in life founded and was the CEO of the Wyatt Family Community Center in Chicago. She was named one of Time Magazines's Women of the Year in 1975 and received a similar honor from The Ladies Home Journal in 1977. Ebony Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential black Americans from 1980 to 1984. She was also inducted to the Civil Rights Walk of Fame in 2005. Wyatt died at age 88 in a local hospital after a long illness.
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