Mr. Walter Cunningham, Sr. is the father of Scout’s schoolmate, Walter Jr. He is a farmer working heavily mortgaged land. Through Scout's interactions with their new teacher, a fight she has with Walter Jr., and conversations over lunch at the Finch home, the reader learns a lot about the boy’s family. The Finches later encounter Walter Sr. at the jail when he is part of the group of men who arrive with the goal of removing Tom Robinson.

The main point that Scout makes when speaking with Miss Caroline is that the Cunninghams are incredibly proud. When Walter Jr. comes to class without lunch, the new teacher tries to “lend” him a quarter, which Walter refuses. Scout explains why: “The Cunninghams never took anything they can’t pay back.”

Scout in her narrative then shares with the reader that Mr. Cunningham has retained her father’s services as an attorney in a matter concerning “his entailment,” and he worries about paying Atticus. By the end of the year, the Finches have received wood, nuts, smilax (a vine with berries), holly, and turnip greens. As Atticus explains, the Depression hit the farmers very hard and any earnings must go to pay the mortgage on the acres that were not entailed (chapter 2).

Mr. Cunningham could get a WPA job, but his land would go to ruin if he left it, and he is willing to go hungry to keep his land and vote as he pleases.

Mr. Cunningham and his son Walter are only seen briefly in the novel, but they are important characters that show the poverty present in Maycomb. Mr. Cunningham is a poor farmer who pays Atticus for legal services with firewood, hickory nuts, and turnips. He is a man of his word and never takes advantage of people he owes. The Cunninghams are so poor that they can’t afford for Walter Cunningham to bring a lunch to school. The scene where Walter eats with Scout and Jem at the Finches sets up an important lesson Atticus teaches Scout about “walking around in another person’s skin.”  In addition, the fact that Mr. Cunningham pays Atticus with food shows just how proud he is; he is willing to let his own son go hungry than owe someone money.

We also see Mr. Cunningham join the lynch mob that confronts Atticus outside the jail. When Scout points him out in the mob, he becomes embarrassed and ashamed of his actions in trying to lynch Tom Robinson without a fair trial.