Revels Cayton

Revels Cayton (1907 – November 4, 1995) was an American union leader and civil rights activist active in the states of Washington and California.

Early life Born in 1907 to Susie Revels Cayton and Horace Cayton, Sr., Cayton was a civil rights leader in Seattle and California. His grandfather was Hiram R. Revels, the first black senator in the United States.

Cayton was forced to seek employment at age 15 as a telephone operator due to a series of unfortunate financial events. He attended the University of Washington, but dropped out due to the Great Depression. In the 1930s, the Communist Party's primary concerns included workers' rights and racial tensions. In 1940, he filed a discrimination suit against a San Francisco restaurant that refused service to him, Paul Robeson, and five others.

Cayton returned to San Francisco in the 1950s.

In 1960, he was the first manager of St. Francis Square, a housing development in San Francisco built by the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union and the Pacific Maritime Association. Later he became the deputy director of the San Francisco Housing Authority and deputy mayor for social programs.

Cayton died on Saturday, November 4, 1995, in San Francisco, California.