Civil Rights Movement Veteran

"We who believe in freedom cannot rest.." Ella Baker

Franklin Delano Williams
(AKA Franklin D. Williams, "The Boy", and "Rev. Frank")
CORE, NAACP, SCLC SOBU, MXLU, 1960-Present, North Carolina

My civil rights work began while in high school (1960-64) in Pitt County, NC. I worked with Dr. Andrew Best, Grantz
Norcott and Bennie Roundtree to build a youth chapter of the NAACP in our county.

When I got to college in 1964, I got involved with Floyd McKissick and CORE in Durham, NC. I participated in the
marches and sit-in's to integrate downtown public accommodations. I also worked as a student intern with the United
Organizations for Community Improvement (UOCI) in Durham, NC. I was drafted in 1966 and became the first black
person from my county to "not step forward" at the induction center in Charlotte, NC. The next two years were spent in
numerous appearances before my local draft board and working with the American Friends Service Committee Anti Draft
efforts in NC.

From 1966 to 1968, I worked for the Youth Educational Services (YES), a state-wide, student run tutorial program with
over 5,000 volunteers throughout North Carolina.

In 1968 and 1969, I worked with Howard Fuller at the Foundation for Community Development to establish Malcolm X
Liberation University (MXLU) (Durham and Greensboro, North Carolina). The majority of initial building renovations,
furnishings, materials, supplies and teaching staff were donated or in-kind. Back then we referred to this as "liberating
resources for the people".

From 1969 to 1972, I worked with Nelson Johnson to establish the Student Organization for Black Unity (SOBU) to
create a post-"civil rights era" black student organization. My next major "civil rights" experience was with the National
Black Child Development Institute and the North Carolina Federation of Child Development Centers from 1972 to 1977.
In this job, I worked with inner-city and rural communities to fight for state and federal resources to develop child care
centers.

After completing graduate school in 1979, I spent the next ten years working in Alabama, North Carolina and Florida
working for rural community health centers, farmworker advocacy organizations, and church-based social and racial
justice projects.

SOURCE: Civil Rights Movement Veterans Website www.crmvet.org | Copyright 2001-2009

Last Modified: January 2, 2010.