#hosea williams

[bobdylan-n-jonimitchell]

Andrew Young, Dr. Martin Luther king Jr., Joan Baez, Ira Sandperl, Hosea Williams, and others escorting children to a newly integrated school, Grenada, MS, September 20, 1966.

[blondebrainpowered]

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. second from right, stands with Hosea Williams left, Jesse Jackson, second from left, and Ralph Abernathy, right on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee, a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place, April 3, 1968.

Photo credit: AP photo/Charles Kelly, file

[chantssecrets]

From left: Willie Ricks (Carmichael aide), Bernard Lee (Martin Luther King Jr. aide) Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael, Andy Young, Hosea Williams, Meredith March Against Fear, 1966.

[todaysdocument]

Response of Martin Luther King, Jr., to allegations by the city of Memphis, TN, that he and others were engaged in a conspiracy to incite riots or breaches of the peace, April 4, 1968. 

“The defendants are not presently and have never been engaged in any conspiracies as alleged in the complaint.”

Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United States

Series: Civil Cases

File Unit: City of Memphis vs Martin Luther King, Jr., et. al., Civil C-68-80

Transcription: 

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE WESTERN DIVISION

CITY OF MEMPHIS,

A Municipal Corporation,

Complainant

VS

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.,                              NO. C-68-80

HOSEA WILLIAMS, REVEREND

JAMES BEVEL, REVEREND JAMES

ORANGE, RALPH D. ABERNATHY and

BERNARD LEE, all non-residents

of the State of Tennessee

Defendants

ANSWER

  The defendants deny each and every allegation of the complainant except as follows:

  The defendant Martin Luther King, Jr. and members of his staff were invited by local ministers to participate in a march held on March 28, 1967. Said march was held under the supervision of local ministers and the responsibility for planning and supervision to maintain order did not rest with these defendants.

  The defendant King at the urgent request of local

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march leaders did leave the scene of disorder. At the same time, local leaders made immediate and successful efforts to turn the march back.

  The defendants have organized and conducted in many communities utilizing the principals of non-violence numerous marches, none of which have resulted in civil disturbance. The defendants are not presently and have never been engaged in any conspiracies as alleged in the complaint. Defendants have in no way in their private or public statements sponsored, fermented, encouraged and incited riots, mobs or breaches of the peace as alleged in the complaint.

  Defendants further state that they have never refused to furnish information concerning marches or plans as such information became available; that in fact said information has been furnished on a continuing basis to local law enforcement officers; that there is no statute or ordinance requiring the issuance of a parade or march permit by police authorities. However, to the extent that there is any custom or practice of submitting plans for parades or marches to police officials for discussion and review, the defendants have and will continue to do so as soon as practical after said plans have been made.

  The defendants utilizing their experience have undertaken the following general steps to insure that the march will be non-violent and under control at all times. Limitations will be placed on the number of marchers in each line; parade marshals will be carefully selected and given training in their duties; liaison will be maintained with local law enforcement officers

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and the necessary protection and assistance will be requested; all groups in the community have been contacted to insure the parties in the march will participate on a non-violent basis; a route has been tentatively selected, together with tentative starting and ending times for the march and other necessary organizational steps have been and are continuing to be taken to insure a peaceful march. Steps have further been taken to prohibit the use of signs affixed to sticks or any other object which might be utilized in an improper manner.

  Defendant, Martin Luther King, Jr., further states that he has on numerous other occasions received threats or been informed of threats received by others concerning his personal safety; that while all due precautions have been taken, there have been no difficulties encountered as a result of such threats.

  Defendants respectfully request that the application for injunction should be denied or in the alternative that the Court permit the march to be held under such reasonable restrictions as may be necessary giving due regard to the defendants and their First Amendment rights.

OF COUNSEL:

JACK GREENBERG

MEL ZAR

10 Columbus Circle

New York, New York

LUCIUS E. BURCH, JR.

LOUIS R. LUCAS

WALTER BAILEY

W. J. MICHAEL CODY

DAVID E. CAYWOOD

CHARLES F. NEWMAN

[contemplatingoutlander]

Opinion | Time for some more ‘good trouble’ on voting rights, 56 years after ‘Bloody Sunday’

If there is anything worth getting into trouble for, it’s safeguarding the right to vote.

According to Jonathan Capehart, a columnist for The Washington Post:

On Sunday, March 7, 1965 — exactly 56 years ago — the Rev. Hosea Williams and 25-year-old John Lewis walked side-by-side as they led some 600 Black men, women and children on a march for voting rights from the Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Ala., to the state capitol in Montgomery.

Only, they never made it to Montgomery. In fact, they were just about one mile into their 54-mile march — just over the Edmund Pettus Bridge — when a line of Alabama state troopers advanced on Lewis and the peaceful marchers with billy clubs, tear gas and horses.

[....]

Five months after what became known as “Bloody Sunday,” Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law. He handed one of the pens used to sign the historic legislation to Lewis. “That pen, and the signing of the act, helped change America forever,” Lewis wrote in the foreword of “Destiny of Democracy: The Civil Rights Summit at the LBJ Presidential Library.” “Without the signing of the Voting Rights Act, in my estimation, there would not be a Jimmy Carter, or a Bill Clinton, and I’m positive there would not be a Barack Obama as president of the United States of America.”

But today, with racial disparities in everything from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic to the use of lethal force by law enforcement, the full blessings of American life extolled by Johnson remain elusive for African Americans. And their equal right to vote has been under relentless assault since 2013, the year the Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder gutted the main provision of the Voting Rights Act, which forced certain states to get preclearance of voting rights changes from the Justice Department before they could be enacted.

Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments involving voting restrictions in Arizona that could snuff out the Voting Rights Act entirely. Also last week, Georgia Republicans started moving legislation aimed at restricting access to the ballot in a number of ways, including leaving it up to each county whether to have any Sunday early voting. This would be a devastating blow to “Souls to the Polls,” the Sunday practice of African Americans casting their early voting ballots after church service. [....]

Georgia is not alone in putting limits on the right to vote. A report from the Brennan Center for Justice notes, “As of February 19, 2021, state lawmakers have carried over, prefiled or introduced 253 bills with provisions that restrict voting access in 43 states.“ With the “For the People Act,” Congress is stepping in to stop this.

Officially known as H.R. 1, the legislation would make it easier to vote and harder for states to purge their voter rolls. While it passed the House on March 3, the bill’s prospects don’t look so good in an evenly divided Senate that requires 60 votes to get anything done. The same fate awaits H.R. 4, or the “John Lewis Voting Rights Act,” which would reinstate the Justice Department’s preclearance authority in the 1965 act.

[emphasis added]

Fifty-six years after Bloody Sunday we see that Republicans are working hard to suppress the voting rights of Blacks and other POC. We can’t let this happen.

[keepitmovinshawty]

Every single time Hosea said something wasn’t a good idea, bad shit happened...

Had a bad feeling about the ferry job in Blackwater. They get ambushed by lawmen, Dutch kills a girl, they get run out of Blackwater, 3 of their own die, and they lose access to their money.

Said robbing a Leviticus Cornwall train was not a good idea considering they were trying to lie low. The robbery brought attention to them because Cornwall knew it was them and sent Milton after them.

Said going to parley with Colm was a trap. Those were the exact words he used. It indeed was a trap and Arthur got taken and tortured.

Said taking revenge on Bronte was foolish. Doing so only brought more attention to them and likely tipped Milton off about the bank job, which led to Hosea’s death.

If there was one person that should have always listened to, it was Hosea. The man made it to at least his 60s as an outlaw. Most outlaws barely made it to their 40s. He didn’t live that long by making dumb decisions.

[ithedondon20]

Day 17 of Black History Month and I'm honoring Hosea Williams. He  was an American civil rights leader, activist, ordained minister, businessman, philanthropist, scientist, and politician. He may be best known as a trusted member of fellow famed civil rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King, Jr.'s inner circle. Under the banner of their flagship organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King depended on Williams to organize and stir masses of people into nonviolent direct action in myriad protest campaigns they waged against racial, political, economic, and social injustice. King alternately referred to Williams, his chief field lieutenant, as his "bull in a china closet" and his "Castro".

[blackinperiodfilms]

Brandon Morgan as Hosea Williams, Ace Anderson as John Lewis, and Tyrees Allen as James Bevel in the Alley Theatre’s The Great Society.

Writer: Robert Schenkkan | Director: Kevin Moriarty

Photo Source: Karen Almond