Cecil J. Williams

Cecil J. Williams born November 26, 1937 raised in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

The third child of Ethel and Cecil L. Willams. His parents both have mixed ancestry; on his mother's side half white, and on his fathers side half Native American. [2]

Ethel Williams, her whole life was a decided educator - elementary, high school, and college level. Cecil L. Williams was a self-employed tailor, his business was almost 80% white clientele, he did the alterations for downtown stores such as, Belk-Hudson, Barshay Marcus Clothing Store, and Limehouse Men's Stores. [2]

Williams would help his father with his business with delivering the clothes back to the stores when they were finished, and at the end of the week he would deliver the bills and collect money from the services his father would do. [2]

At the age of 9, Williams received something that what some would say changed the course of his life. His older brother had gotten a camera from his mother, but he went on to be more interested in music and the saxophone which ultimately led him to hand the camera down to Cecil. A Kodak Baby Brownie was the first camera he would ever own, which he still has, and still works. That would be the start to a new found passion, he later went onto use an extra bedroom in his house for his dark room to develop his negatives. [2]

He began photographing people on Sundays when people were dressed at their finest and develop the portraits for them. As he kept taking pictures, he began to realize that this can make money from it and began earning about a dollar or two by taking pictures of people in Edisto Gardens which is local garden all people would visit. [2]

At the age of 11, he photographed his first wedding. [2]

At the age of 12, E.C. Jones from Sumter, S.C. - William's mentor asked him to take photos of the churches of Clarendon County - which happened to hold the families of the DeLaine and the Pearson families from the Briggs vs. Elliott petition. [2]

Williams has photographed significant desegregation efforts in South Carolina since the 1950s. Some of his most notable pictures are of the activity during the Briggs v. Elliott case in Summerton, South Carolina. It was the first of five desegregation cases pushing to integrate public schools in the United States. The five cases combined into Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case that declared that "separate but equal" public schools for whites and blacks was unconstitutional.

After Thurgood Marshall achieved victory for the Brown vs. Board of Education case, he came back to Clarendon Country, and to Claflin University and challenged parents to test the new supreme court ruling. As Orangeburg citizens began testing and signing up for their children to go to a desegregated schools. Then the local people began firing them from jobs, share croppers couldn't share crop any longer, and economic pressure brought upon them to depart. Orangeburg citizens began to react with a boycott. [2]

At the age of 14, he was one of 25 photographers around the world freelancing for JET magazine. JET caught wind of the movement growing in Orangeburg, they needed an onsite correspondent for constant updates, and someone to be there all the time documenting the events for them. [2]

The only time Williams made the cover of JET was during the 1969 Charleston hospital workers' strike, and his picture of Coretta Scott King speaking at the protest. [3]

As a young professional, he also contributed to other publications, including the Baltimore Afro-American, Associated Press, the Pittsburgh Courier.

In January of 1960, during Williams senior year at Claflin he was visiting relatives in New York City, he had read that John F. Kennedy would be at a downtown hotel at a press conference and decided to go down to the hotel in hopes of capturing some images. He had forgot his press pass, and the hotel security was about to kick him out of the room right as Kennedy was about to come up to the podium, Kennedy told them not to kick him out, and ended up giving Williams his personal address. For the next year, while campaigning all over the United States, Williams became a close acquaintance to Kennedy and one of his favorite lensman.[4] Williams was one of the few in the press community to be allowed on the private 10-seater jet of Kennedy's to which he named after his daughter Caroline. [2]

He graduated from Claflin University in 1960 with a bachelor's degree in art. He studied under painter and sculptor Arthur Rose Sr. at Claflin. Although better known for photography, Williams' painting, art, graphics, and architectural renderings, represent proficiency, especially among minimalists. Although at that time, because of his race, he was barred from attending Clemson University in his state to study architecture, he drew plans for several residences; one of which was featured in the June 1977 issue of Ebony; Space Age Home.[5]

He also documented Harvey Gantt’s desegregation of Clemson University in 1963, the 1969 Charleston hospital workers’ strike and the 1968 Orangeburg Massacre. The massacre involved the South Carolina Highway Patrol shooting and killing three African American males and injuring 27 other South Carolina State University students.[6]

He worked as the official photographer for the South Carolina branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, South Carolina State University, Claflin University and National Conference of Black Mayors, Inc. for more than 20 years, beginning in the 1960s.[7]

His work has been exhibited at many institutions and museums, such as Claflin University, University of South Carolina, Columbia Museum of Art, Clemson University, Columbia College, Furman University, Rice Museum in Georgetown, South Carolina State University, Museum of the New South in Charlotte.[8]

Williams ran as a candidate in the South Carolina Democratic Party leading up to the United States Senate election in South Carolina, 1984. He is the second black person to do so in the state. He lost in a close race to Melvin Purvis. He ran again as a candidate in Democratic Primary preceding the United States Senate election in South Carolina, 1996. He lost to Elliott Springs Close.

In 2015, Williams invented the FilmToaster, a camera scanning platform and system that digitizes film negatives faster than other methods.[9]

In 2019, in collaboration with Barry and Peggy Goldwater Foundation and Arizona Highways magazine, and Scottsdale's Museum of the West, photographs by Barry Goldwater will be on exhibit. All the photos were printed from the FilmToaster and on display from January 6, 2019-March 27, 2020. [2]

He owns a portrait studio, event, wedding photography business based in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He serves as the director of Historic Preservation at Claflin University. He is a Getty Images contributor and photographer. He also tours the nation giving presentations at conferences, events and institutions about his work during the civil rights movement.[10] He is a member of the American Society of Media Photographers.[11]

He holds membership with Delta Chi, the Orangeburg, South Carolina Boulé[12] of Sigma Pi Phi, the oldest African-American Fraternity.[13]

Williams lives in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He is married to Barbara Johnson Williams, a retired educator.[14]

Willams and Barbara met while Barbara was attending college, and he was the university photographer at the time. Going through old photos, they discovered that when Barbara was in high school Williams had taken a picture of her not knowing who she was. [2]

Summer of 2019, Williams opened the Cecil Williams South Carolina Civil Rights Museum to house hundreds of images and artifacts from the civil rights movement. [4] The Cecil Williams Civil Rights Museum looks like an ultra-modern day home which Williams designed himself in 1983-36 years before he made it into his own museum. [4] The theme for his museum is "The South Carolina Events that Changed America". The museum will also double as the neighborhood community center. [2]

As a Claflin University student, Williams was named an honoree of both Outstanding Young Men of America and Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges & Universities. He was given the 1994 Freedom Fighter Award from the Orangeburg branch of the NAACP. Also in 1994, he received a commendation by S.C. House of Representatives, introduced by Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter. He received the Presidential Citation in 1995 from Dr. Henry N. Tisdale, president of Claflin University. In 2006, he was also the recipient of Claflin University's highest Award, the Bythewood Award. The South Carolina African-American Heritage Commission gave him the 2006 "Preserving Our Place in History" Award.[15] And in 2016, the Commission presented him with the DeCosta Jr. Trailblazer Award.[16]

• List of photographers of the civil rights movement