Country: | United States |
Birth Date: | 28 September 1941 |
Birth Place: | Harlem, New York |
National Master (1963) |
Walter Harris is an American chess player.
Harris was the first African-American chess player to earn the USCF title of National Master.[1] He had a remarkable 5th-place finish in the 1959 U.S. Junior Open. At that tournament, he was unable to rent a room at the tournament's hotel (Sheraton-Fontenelle Hotel) due to racial segregation. Despite his and Anthony Saidy's protests, the hotel managers were adamant, forcing Harris to go to another hotel for accommodations.[2]
Harris, along with Kenneth Clayton and Frank Street Jr., have been regarded as pioneers of African-Americans in chess in the 1960s.[3]
Harris studied physics at University of California, Los Angeles,[2] [4] and was a career physicist.[5]