A house RESOLUTION

 

TO REMEMBER AND CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF Booker T. WIlliams AND TO HONOR HIS REMARKABLE COntributions TO the medical field in Sumter and to the Civil Rights Movement.

 

Whereas, Robert Lee Williams, while a student at Claflin College, now University, met the historic figure Booker T. Washington who was on an education tour at the agricultural school. The two men became close friends. Robert Williams developed several modern techniques that would be taught by Booker T. Washington, including diversified crops, better known today as crop rotation. Mr. Williams and his wife, Maimie Carion, were blessed with twelve children, the eighth of whom, Booker T. Williams born in 1900, was named for his father's good friend; and

 

Whereas, a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Booker T. Williams earned a bachelor's degree in pharmacy from South Carolina State College, now University, and a doctorate in dental surgery from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. He became one of the first Black dentists in the city of Sumter, where he practiced dentistry for forty-two years; and

 

Whereas, a founding father of the NAACP Sumter branch, Dr. Williams was the first vice president and organizer of the state conference. In attendance for the conference that year were groundbreaking Civil Rights' leaders and activists, such as I. DeQuincey Newman, William B. James, Roy Wilkins, Modjeska Simpkins, Harold Boulware, J. E. Briggs, and Black historical legend, Thurgood Marshall, who would become the first Black Supreme Court justice; and

 

Whereas, Dr. Williams served as chairman of the NAACP Life Membership Committee, and the Sumter branch filed a lawsuit with the United States District Court to desegregate Carnegie Public Library and won. Since 1963, that library has been the Sumter County Public Library; and

 

Whereas, helping to dismantle segregation, Dr. Williams worked closely with Thurgood Marshall during Jim Crow. Dr. Williams became an instrumental voice in the groundbreaking landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed racial segregation in schools by declaring that "separate but equal" was unconstitutional. He played a vital role in the Teachers Association Defense Fund, which filed a lawsuit demanding equal pay in 1942 for teachers of color. In 1957, he was able to travel to Accra, a region in Ghana, Africa, for the celebration of its independence from colonialization; and

 

Whereas, Dr. Williams was chairman of the South Carolina Human Relations Committee, a member of the Palmetto Medical Dental Pharmaceutical Association and the National Dental Association, and the first Black dentist to provide services for children in Head Start programs; and

 

Whereas, on June 27, 1971, the Sumter Branch of the NAACP recognized Dr. Williams for his more than forty years of unparalleled service to the Sumter community with an award designed to recognize those who promote education, dignity, and general welfare for all people. Three days after receiving the award, Booker T. Williams passed away at the age of seventy-one; and

 

Whereas, the House of Representatives takes great pleasure in recognizing the trailblazing Civil Rights' work of Booker T. Williams and his dedication to the dental health of his community. Now, therefore,

 

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

 

That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, remember and celebrate the life of Booker T. Williams and honor his remarkable contributions to the medical field in Sumter and to the Civil Rights Movement.

 

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to the descendants of Booker T. Williams.

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