Draft:Lemuel L. Foster

Lemuel L. Foster Sr. (1891–1981), was an American singer, civil servant, business executive, race relations consultant, and deacon. He worked as an executive of R. H. Macy & Company (now Macy's), as well as work as a supervisor in the Division of Negro Economics at the United States Department of Labor.

Early life and education
Lemuel L. Foster was born in 1891, in Meridian, Mississippi. He attended Tougaloo College, a private historically Black college in Jackson, Mississippi. Three of his siblings also attended Tougaloo College. Foster also attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee where in the 1910s he was a member of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, an African-American a cappella ensemble consisting of Fisk University students.

Career
He worked at Kowaliga Industrial School in Kowaliga, Alabama for a year. From December 1918 until 1919 during World War I, Foster worked as the supervisor of negro economics for the state of Mississippi, a role within of the Division of Negro Economics at the United States Department of Labor. He succeeded Supervisor Rev. J. C. Olden in the position based in Meridian, Mississippi  Starting in 1920, Foster worked as an executive secretary of the Urban League of Atlanta (now the National Urban League).

During World War II, Foster worked as a race relations analyst for the United States Army. He also worked as a race relations officer for the Federal Works Agency.

Foster died in a hospital on June 20, 1981, in New York City. His obituary in the New York Times noted he was a trustee and deacon at Grace Congregational Church of Harlem as well as a member of the board of managers for the Harlem YMCA.