1. Hosea Lorenzo Williams was an American civil rights leader, activist, ordained minister, businessman, philanthropist, scientist, and politician.
29 Facts About Hosea Williams
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Hosea Williams was considered a member of famed civil rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King Jr.
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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.
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Hosea Williams was born in Attapulgus, Georgia, a small city in the far southwest corner of the state in Decatur County.
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Hosea Williams's mother ran away from the institute upon learning of her pregnancy.
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At the age of 28, Hosea Williams stumbled upon his birth father, "Blind" Willie Wiggins, by accident in Florida.
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Hosea Williams's mother died during childbirth when he was 10 years old.
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Hosea Williams was run out of town by a lynch mob at the age of 13 for allegedly consorting with a white girl.
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Hosea Williams was 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.
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En route to the funeral home, the hearse driver noticed Hosea Williams had a faint pulse and was barely breathing, but was still alive.
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Hosea Williams spent more than a month hospitalized recuperating from injuries sustained in the attack.
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Hosea Williams' birthday coincided with the anniversary of the death of one of that organization's most prominent members, George Washington Carver.
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In 1976, Hosea Williams founded the Southeast Chemical Manufacturing and Distributing Company, which manufactured and sold specialized cleaning supplies.
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Hosea Williams would go on to found three other chemical companies and a bonding company.
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Hosea Williams first joined the NAACP, during which time he was a leader in the Savannah Protest Movement.
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Hosea Williams played an important role in the demonstrations in St Augustine, Florida, that some claim led to the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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Hosea Williams challenged Callaway on myriad issues relating to civil rights, minimum wage, federal aid to education, urban renewal, and indigent medical care.
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Hosea Williams claimed that Callaway had purchased the endorsement of the Atlanta Journal.
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In 1972, Hosea Williams ran in the Democratic primary for the US Senate seat formerly held by the late Richard Russell, Jr.
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In 1974, Hosea Williams was elected to the Georgia Senate where he served five terms as a Democrat, until 1984.
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That same year Hosea Williams successfully campaigned for a seat on the DeKalb County, Georgia County Commission which he held until 1994.
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Hosea Williams supported former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter for president in 1976 but surprised many black civil rights figures in 1980 by joining Ralph Abernathy and Charles Evers in endorsing Ronald Reagan.
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On January 17,1987, Hosea Williams led a "March Against Fear and Intimidation" in Forsyth County, Georgia, which at the time had no non-white residents.
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In 1971, Hosea Williams founded a non-profit foundation, Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless, widely known in Atlanta for providing hot meals, haircuts, clothing, and other services for the needy on Thanksgiving, Christmas, Martin Luther King Jr.
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In 1974, Hosea Williams organized the International Wrestling League, based in Atlanta, with Thunderbolt Patterson serving as president.
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Hosea Williams died at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, after a three-year battle with cancer on November 16,2000.
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Hosea Williams Drive runs by the site of his former home in the East Lake neighborhood at the intersection of Hosea L Williams Drive and East Lake Drive.
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Hosea L Williams Papers are housed at Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History in Atlanta.
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Hosea Williams was portrayed by Wendell Pierce in the 2014 film Selma.