[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 48 (Thursday, April 27, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E649]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO HOPE WILLIAMS, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES E. CLYBURN

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 27, 2006

  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Mr. Hope Williams, 
Jr., the grandson of slaves, the son of a man wrongfully imprisoned, 
and a civil rights pioneer. This native of rural Fort Motte, South 
Carolina, was a fixture during the civil rights era in his home state, 
and his passing on November 21,2005 left a void that will never be 
filled.
  On June 14, 1910, Mr. Williams was born the youngest of 12 children 
to Hope, Sr., and Adline Gold Williams during the era of Jim Crow laws. 
He received only a sixth grade education at Julia Peterkin's Lang Syne 
School because a public school education was not available to him and 
others similarly situated. Yet he continued to educate himself beyond 
his formal school years.
  While Mr. Williams was still at home, his father was snatched and put 
on a chain gang for defending himself against the assault of a local 
white man. With his mother left to care for her large family alone, Mr. 
Williams stepped up and helped build a new cabin for his family. The 
house still stands, although battered by time. It remains a testament 
to Hope Williams' legacy of determination and endurance.
  During World War II the boundaries of skin color temporarily 
diminished as all young men were called to serve. Hope Williams served 
his country by cultivating cotton on a Calhoun County farm he secured 
through one of the government's ``Resettlement Administration'' 
programs. However, racial tensions rose again, and Mr. Williams found 
himself drawn into the civil rights movement joining the Southern 
Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC. He was involved in 
organizational meetings with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at Penn 
Center in Frogmore, South Carolina, and helped mobilize voter 
registration and participation in Calhoun and Orangeburg counties.
  His leadership in the African American community, led Mr. Williams to 
form the Calhoun County Branch of the NAACP, and he served as its 
president for 12 years. He focused his efforts on working with South 
Carolina's first Black Senator since Reconstruction, I. DeQuincey 
Newman, to improve voter registration and economic development in 
African American communities.
  Mr. Williams defied threats by the Ku Klux Klan and even took on the 
powerful State Senator Marion Gressette, and continued his voter 
registration drives. Ultimately Senator Gressette deputized him as a 
registrar with the power to register people where he met them rather 
than at the voter registration office. He was then appointed to the 
Calhoun County Board of Education and Voter Participation. He served in 
that capacity for many years, and was active in many other community 
organizations.
  His dedication to his faith was equally profound. Mr. Williams joined 
New Bethany Baptist Church at the age of 14, and remained an active 
member until his passing. He served as Church Clerk, Sunday School 
Teacher and Superintendent. He became an Ordained Deacon, and finally 
served as Chairman of the Deacon Board until he fell ill before 
departing this life.

  Mr. Williams was the patriarch of a wonderful family. His married 
June Miler in August 1932, and the two had 18 children. Mr. Williams 
was also the proud grandfather of 56 grandchildren and great-
grandfather to another 45. At the time of his passing, he had eight 
great-great grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, Hope Williams was a stalwart of the civil rights 
movement. He was instrumental in helping African-American communities 
in Calhoun County secure their right to vote, and he was among the 
unsung heroes in South Carolina that pave the way for me to be elected 
the first African American to Congress from South Carolina since 
Reconstruction. In fact, he was very active in all my political efforts 
until his illness. It was a long road, but one made easier by the 
tremendous work and sacrifice of men and women like Hope Williams. I 
encourage you to join me in expressing deep gratitude, posthumously, to 
Mr. Williams, and to issue that this triumph story is enshrined in the 
hollowed halls of Congress.

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