Georgia Association of Black Elected Officals Hold Convention in Savannah


Hosea Wiliams credit: Corbis Images
Hosea Wiliams credit: Corbis Images

Late civil rights leader the Rev. Hosea L. Williams got locked up 135 times in the early 1960s for leading marches, organizing demonstrations and supervising voter registration drives throughout the south.

Forever marked in Williams’ history is Savannah, the place where he was arrested the first time; and the city where he was jailed the longest.

Williams, who moved to Savannah in the 1950s to work as a research chemist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, joined the Savannah Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to help desegregate public accommodations, such as theaters and restaurants.

His efforts were often disrupted when he was arrest. During one incident, perhaps the most infamous in Savannah, Williams served time served 65 days on a charge of disturbing the peace after a Savannah white woman “complained the demonstrations made her fear for her life” and kept her “awake” at night.

It was those kinds of sacrifices for the civil rights movement that led officials Saturday of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials to pay tribute to Williams during the organization’s annual summer convention held here in Savannah. Georgia State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, president of the organization, and U.S. Congressman John Lewis, were among the speakers.

Lewis delivered fiery remarks in the spirit of Williams, a leader, he said didn’t mind “getting in the way.”

Lewis said he

Rep. John Lewis
Rep. John Lewis
stood by him when both of them were beat by state troopers on Bloody Sunday, a tragic event in Selma, Alabama, which led to President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the historic voting rights act into law.

“He was an agitator in the good sense of the word,” Lewis said. “He did the dirty, nitty-gritty work” of mobilizing people behind the scenes. “He never sought credit. Today people take credit for what Hosea and other did.” “When I look at the bridge in Selma without the courage of Hosea Williams, there would be no Barack Obama. He made it possible,” Lewis said.

Lewis reminded the Georgia elected officials that they might not have jobs today if Williams and others hadn’t mobilized thousands in the south to gain the right to vote.

Finally, Lewis said he’ll never forget how candid Williams was during difficult times. He wasn’t the kind of leader who reserved his opinion, he said.

“Hosea would say he is ashamed and disgraced, especially with my colleagues in the U.S. Senate, who do not have the courage to extend unemployment benefits. He would have said, we can bail out Wall Streets, the banks and the auto industry; and we can’t bail out poor people. I think we are too quiet. Let’s get in the way.”

“This is significant because he’s being honored by his peers,” said Williams’ daughter Barbara Williams Emerson.

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