As Black History Month comes to a close,
we want to highlight an Atlanta legend.
Hosea Williams was a civil rights
firebrand who defied convention.
Through his no nonsense approach,
he consistently challenged
social and institutional norms,
hoping to create a future
where all could prosper.
For the freedom of our people,
at least I can stand up.
And speak out and face death whatever
is necessary, so I have no apology.
Born in Attapulgus, GA, in 1926,
Hosea Williams lived in the heart
of the Jim Crow S he saw early on
the obstacles blacks faced daily,
and at the age of 14 he had to
flee a lynch mob because of his
association with the young White Girl.
A few years later,
he enlisted in the Army during World
War Two and rose to the rank of
staff Sergeant in an all black unit.
He witnessed the horrors of warfare up close,
coming face to face with death when
a Nazi bombing. Decimated his squad.
He was. Supposed to be dead.
He was in a foxhole, and everybody
in that foxhole was classified as
dead because no one was moving.
And when they came back the next day,
Jose Williams was underneath
all those dead bodies.
But he was moving. He
went on to earn a bachelor's degree in
chemistry for Morris Brown College and a
Masters degree from Atlanta University.
And every Sunday we would go out
for ice cream except for one Sunday.
Driving his Cadillac as he was so proud of,
we went for ice cream as usual and
the man that was serving the ice cream
and said we don't serve no in here.
Now that was the change,
and so began Williams's transformation
into a civil rights activist.
He forged a deeply strong bond with
Martin Luther King Junior and joined the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
becoming a Lieutenant and protest organizer.
My father was the Wildman of SCLC
when it came to the movement.
This was his job.
They called it national field organizer,
but that's just a fancy name.
For the people that get their
butts beat first because his job
was to go from city to city and
gather the city leaders together,
preach and teach to the people
till they were ready to March
in March, they did.
Williams was in Alabama alongside
fellow civil rights activist John Lewis
as they attempted to lead the initial
trek from Selma to Montgomery and what
would become known as Bloody Sunday.
Three days later, King arrived and
led a successful March along the same
route. He was a human
battering ram, the one sent into battle
to break down strongholds of oppression.
These young men who are trying to exercise
their constitutional right, Hosea
Williams, was fearless,
willing to put his life on the
line to counter injustice,
just as he did on January 17th,
1987, during a staged March
and then predominantly white
Forsyth County, Georgia. We
were called by Nice white people from a
church and they said would you come here?
We want to take a March and celebrate
Martin Luther King on his birthday.
Of course, he said. Sure,
he was always willing to bridge the gap.
What had happened was there
were 300 KKK in full regalia,
little baby boys and women,
full formal KKK regalia.
Williams and the other marchers
were met with vicious taunts,
Flying rocks and bottles for their safety.
They eventually had to
turn back around and leave.
Need for size county wide.
Two weeks later, there was
another March of 35,000 people,
the largest civil rights
March in the southeast.
Now Forsyth is one of the most
economically prosperous areas
in this whole region because
he broke the back of the Klan.
The human battering ram had
once again done his job.
During the civil rights movement,
Williams ran numerous voter
registration campaigns.
He walked in the March against
Fear and served as a field director
for the Poor People's Campaign.
He was at the Lorraine Motel
when King was assassinated.
Josiah Williams kept looking for the thing
that was gonna set black people free.
He started looking for other things.
He said, well, let me try politics.
Let me be Atlanta City Council person,
DeKalb County commissioner.
That didn't work because for him,
politics didn't work because
he was a man of direct action.
One day, Williams watched a man
facing a destitute situation,
leading him to create a program
that would help transform the lives
of countless Atlanta residents.
Hmm, incredible man.
Josiah Williams would go on to found
Hosea feed the hungry and homeless,
a Human Services organization
that's still going strong today,
and quick shout out to our executive
producer Sean editor Connor for an amazing,
amazing story on an incredible life.