W. L. Williams Jr

W. L. Williams, Jr (born c. 1930; died September 29, 2013 in Birmingham) was an attorney, noted for filing the landmark case Armstrong v. Birmingham Board of Education which led to the racial integration of Birmingham City Schools.

Williams earned an undergraduate degree from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1951 and completed law school at Boston University in 1959. As a young Black attorney in the midst of Birmingham's Civil Rights Movement, Williams was active in pursuing court rulings to advance the cause of equal protection and challenge the city's segregation laws. He worked on behalf of the NAACP and represented Fred Shuttlesworth and Martin Luther King, Jr. He also helped block plans for a garbage dump in Titusville.

After the city changed from a City Commission to a Mayor-Council form of government in 1963, Williams and Reverend James Lowell Ware qualified as candidates in the special City Council election, but did not garner enough votes in the at-large race.

After the election, Williams became a staff attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

He returned to Birmingham in 1979 and opened a private practice. He later served as President of the Mason City neighborhood.

Williams died in 2013. He was survived by his wife, Barbara and three children: W.L. Williams III, Yosef & Yashica.

References

• King, Pamela Sterne (June 19, 2013) "Before there were preachers" Weld for Birmingham
• Wright, Barnett (September 30, 2013) "W.L. Williams, Jr., 83, noted Birmingham civil rights lawyer, dies after brief illness." The Birmingham News