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8 Documents Found
Interview with John Bowman
Date: 10/28/2005Call Number: CD 521Format: CDProducers: Claude MarksCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
John Bowman, targeted by a CA State Grand Jury investigating a police murder at Ingleside Station on August 29, 1971, explains why he will not cooperate. He speaks of his history as a Black Panther and community organizer, COINTELPRO, police abuse and repression, and his torture upon being captured in New Orleans in 1973.
Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power
Date: 1/1/2005Call Number: V 255Format: VHSProducers: Sandra Dickson, Churchill RobertsCollection: Robert F. Williams!
Robert F. Williams was the forefather of the Black Power movement and broke dramatic new ground by internationalizing the African American struggle. Negroes with Guns is not only an electrifying look at an historically erased leader, but also provides a thought-provoking examination of Black radicalism and resistance and serves as a launching pad for the study of Black liberation philosophies. Insightful interviews with historian Clayborn Carson, biographer Timothy Tyson, Julian Bond, and a first person account by Mabel Williams, Robert’s wife, bring the story to life.
Robert Franklin Williams was born in Monroe, North Carolina in 1925. As a young man he worked for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit until he was drafted into the United States Army in 1944—where he learned to take up arms.
Back in Monroe, Williams married Mabel Robinson, a young woman who shared his commitment to social justice and African American freedom. After the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, Klan activity in Monroe skyrocketed, successfully intimidating African Americans and nearly shutting down the local chapter of the NAACP. Williams revived it to nearly 200 strong by reaching out to everyday laborers and to fellow Black veterans—men who were not easily intimidated. When repeated assaults on Black women in the county were ignored by the law, Williams filed for a charter from the NRA; the Black Armed Guard was born. During a 1957 integration campaign that faced violent white resistance, Williams’ armed defense guard successfully drove off legions of the Klan and electrified the Black community.
In 1961, Freedom Riders came to Monroe, planning to demonstrate the superior effectiveness of passive resistance over armed self-defense. They were bloodied, beaten and jailed, and finally called on Williams for protection from thousands of rioting Klansmen. Despite the threatening mobs, Williams sheltered a white family from violence, only to be later accused of kidnapping them. Fleeing death threats, Rob and Mabel gathered their children, left everything behind and fled for their lives—pursued by FBI agents on trumped-up kidnapping charges.
Williams and his family spent five years in Cuba where he wrote his electrifying book, Negroes With Guns and produced Radio Free Dixie for the international airwaves. They later moved on to China, where they were well received — but always longed for their forbidden home. In 1969, Williams exchanged his knowledge of the Chinese government for safe passage to the States. Rob and Mabel lived their remaining days together in Michigan where he died in 1995. His body was returned at long last to his hometown of Monroe, N.C.
Robert F Williams - Self Respect, Self Defense & Self Determination: An Audio Documentary as told by Mabel Williams - Production master
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.
Robert F Williams CD release events photos
Photographs of Robert Williams CD release event in Oakland. Includes John and Mabel Williams, Amiri and Amina Baraka, Bobby Seale and Yuri Kochiyama.
Robert F Williams CD release events photos
Photographs of Robert Williams CD release event in Oakland. Includes John and Mabel Williams, Amiri and Amina Baraka, Bobby Seale and Yuri Kochiyama.
Robert F Williams CD release events photos
Photographs of Robert Williams CD release event in Oakland. Includes John and Mabel Williams, Amiri and Amina Baraka, Bobby Seale and Yuri Kochiyama.
Robert F Williams - Self Respect, Self Defense & Self Determination: An Audio Documentary as told by Mabel Williams - Production Master
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.
Robert F Williams - Self Respect, Self Defense & Self Determination: An Audio Documentary as told by Mabel Williams - Production Master
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.
8 Documents Found
