Now Available! An audio CD from the Freedom Archives

and also an 84-page Resource Guide

The work he did should go down in history and never be forgotten.
—Rosa Parks

The story of Robert Williams and Mabel Williams is an important chapter in the history of African-American people. It is much more than the history of a black man who fought against segregation and apartheid in the South. It is the story of a man and a woman united in struggle, it is the story of a family who fought together, struggled together and stayed together, united and strong in the face of racism and oppression. Their story traces their political and ideological growth from being participants in the civil rights struggle, and the human rights struggle inside the United States, to being participants in the world struggle against imperialism and exploitation. It is a story of human dignity, and courage in the face of overwhelming odds. Their story is truly a story of love and of commitment to the struggle of African Peoples and oppressed peoples around the world.
—Assata Shakur, Black liberation fighter in exile

This Freedom Archives CD is a find of rare importance...This is the kind of material that must be woven into the US education system...
—Amiri Baraka

Robert Williams was an extraordinary man, who has been largely lost in the history books. His story is dramatic and compelling and this audio record of his life is an important contribution to contemporary history.
—Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States

 

Other resources about Robert F. Williams:

http://www.sea-urchin.net/buggers/williams.html
http://www.aavw.org/protest/early_rfw_abstract04.html
http://indyweek.com/durham/2004-02-11/black2.html
http://homepages.luc.edu/~rmayer/plsc313/williams.html
http://www.polizeros.com/2004/01/05.html
http://www.black-collegian.com/african/bam1_200.shtml

This documentary was made possible in part by funding from the Puffin Foundation, LEF Foundation and the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media.

More Published Reviews of the Audio CD

Order the audio CD and Resource Guide

Robert F. Williams

Self Respect

Self Defense &

Self Determination

An Audio Documentary as told by

Mabel Williams

Robert F. Williams marches in the company of Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Kwame Ture, Martin Luther King, Jr.,Ella Baker and other leading voices of Black liberation. He was one of the most important and controversial leaders of the freedom movement. Yet his work, words, and profound influence are absent in most historical accounts.

 

With this CD, the Freedom Archives contributes to a growing body of recent scholarship, telling the story of Robert Williams through an exclusive interview with Mabel Williams, his widow, who was with him every step of the way. The program traces their journey from NAACP leadership and armed self-defense against the Klan in Monroe, North Carolina through exile and internationalist solidarity in Cuba, China, Africa, and back to the United States. It features rare speeches, interviews, and radio broadcasts of Radio Free Dixie, the short wave radio series Robert and Mabel broadcast from Cuba.

 

This very human story told by Mabel R. Williams, a deeply admired and respected icon of the Civil Rights movement, will help young people of all backgrounds understand the people and their struggles…
—Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, African Heritage Studies Society

Robert Williams is one of the most important figures in the history of the Black freedom movement...Thanks to the Freedom Archives and the work of his widow Mabel Williams, his story will be ‘heard’ by many more people. And in these political times, we need to remember Rob Williams’s courage, his unyielding internationalism, and the movement he helped to build.
—Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination

With this CD, the Freedom Archives makes an important contribution to American history and politics. Countering superficial readings of U.S. democracy and Black freedom struggles, this narrative by Robert and Mabel Williams brings a deeper and newer perspective on 20th century civil rights and self-defense in Black liberation movements. This is a significant gift—-a story that should be taught and debated in school and on the street.
—Joy James, editor of Imprisoned Intellectuals