J. Ernest Wilkins Sr.

J. Ernest Wilkins Sr.
J. Ernest Wilkins Sr. U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor, 1954–58
Born	(1894-02-01)February 1, 1894 Farmington, Missouri
Died	January 19, 1959(1959-01-19) (aged 64) Washington, D.C.
Alma mater	University of Illinois; University of Chicago
Known for	Labor leader, Undersecretary of Labor, Civil Rights
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Lucille Robinson
Children	three sons, including J. Ernest Wilkins Jr.

Jesse Ernest Wilkins Sr. (February 1, 1894 – January 19, 1959) was a U.S. lawyer, labor leader, undersecretary in the Eisenhower administration and both the first African-American to be appointed to a sub-cabinet position in the United States Government and the first to attend White House cabinet-level meetings.

After a public falling-out with the president and his administration, Wilkins was dismissed from his post by Eisenhower, and then went on to join the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in 1958.

Wilkins graduated mathematics at the University of Illinois and then attended the University of Chicago Law School in the 1920s, becoming one of its first-ever black graduates. He graduated with a PhD at age 20, a member of its Phi Beta Kappa Society and then practiced law locally for several years.

In 1954, Wilkins was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as Undersecretary of Labor for International Labor Affairs (UL-ILA), thus becoming the first black to attend White House cabinet level meetings in the absence of his superior, Labor Secretary James Mitchell. Wilkins had previously served the Eisenhower administration as acting chairman of the President's Committee on Government Contracts at the request of Val Washington.

During his tenure with the administration he was a member of Equality Committee, working with Frederic Murrow, Val Washington, Joseph Douglas, James Nabrit Jr. and Samuel Pierce. Still earlier he had been a member of Eisenhower's President's Committee on Governmental Employment Policy (PCGEP) board when he was with the Labor Department.