Hosea Williams
Rev. Dr. Hosea Lorenzo Williams (
January 5,
1926 –
November 16,
2000) was an
United States civil rights leader,
ordained
reverend, and later a
politician.
His famous motto was "Unbought and Unbossed". Born in
Attapulgus,
Georgia, both of his parents were teenagers committed to a trade institute for the
blind in
Macon. His mother ran away to her hometown, where she died during his childbirth. He was raised by her parents, Lela and Turner Williams, and left home by age 14.
He served with the
U.S. Army during
World War II, in an all-
African-American unit under
General Patton. He advanced to
staff sergeant, and was later the only survivor of a
Nazi bombing, which left him in a hospital in
Europe for more than a year and earned him a
Purple Heart.
He later earned a
high school diploma at age 23, then a
bachelor's degree and a
master's degree (both in
chemistry) from
Atlanta's
Morris Brown College and the former
Atlanta University. In the early
1950s he married Juanita Terry and then worked for the
USDA.
He ended up in a hospital again for over a month after being seriously beaten for using a drinking fountain marked "whites only". He was arrested for other
protests more than 125 times.
He first joined the
NAACP, but later became a leader in the
SCLC along with
Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Joseph Lowery, and
Andrew Young among many others. He also led the
first 1965 march on
Selma,
Alabama, and was beaten unconscious, leaving him with a fractured skull and a severe
concussion.
In
politics, he later served on the
Atlanta City Council and in the
Georgia General Assembly.
In
1987 he led another nationally-covered march, this one consisting of 75 people in
Forsyth County, Georgia, which at the time (before becoming a major
exurb of northern
metro Atlanta) had no non-
white residents. He and the others were
assaulted with
stones and other objects by the
KKK and other
white supremacists. Another march the following week brought 20,000 people and an enormous showing of
police and
sheriff department officers, plus national
media, but with a massive turnout of white counter-demonstrators in opposition, organized by the
Forsyth County Defense League. Williams later sued the League for "discrimination," but lost. A "Bi-Racial Committee" Williams had demanded, comprised of Williams' associates and local officials, was established to integrate the county. It met behind closed doors at the Forsyth County Courthouse, but disbanded after only two meetings, with none of its objectives achieved.
In 1989, he unsuccessfully ran against Maynard Jackson for mayor of Atlanta.
He founded
Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless, a
non-profit foundation widely known in Atlanta for providing hot
meals,
haircuts,
clothing, and other free services for the needy on
Thanksgiving and
Christmas each year.He also became known in his later years for his erratic driving, at least once being cited for
drunk driving.
Both his wife and his son Hosea Williams II died prior to his own death. Williams died at
Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, after a three-year battle with
cancer. Services were held at the historic
Ebenezer Baptist Church, where close friend Dr. King was once the pastor. He was buried at Lincoln Cemetery. His daughter
Elizabeth Omilami carries on as head of the foundation.
*
Williams v. Forsyth County Defense League Case-dismissal with prejudice
*
Williams v. Forsyth County Defense League Federal-court complaint by Hosea Williams
