Quick Facts
Biography
Cecil J. Williams (1937) is an American photographer, publisher, author and inventor best known for his photography documenting the civil rights movement in South Carolina beginning in the 1950s.
His work has been published in hundreds of books, newspapers and television documentaries and has been exhibited in galleries in the Southeast.
Life and career
Williams was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He began freelancing for JET magazine at age 14. As a young professional, he also contributed to other publications, including the Baltimore Afro-American, Associated Press, the Pittsburgh Courier. 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 a 1977 issue of EBONY; Space Age House.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 system that digitizes film negatives faster than other methods.
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. He is a member of the American Society of Media Photographers.
He holds membership with Delta Chi, the Orangeburg, South Carolina Boulé of Sigma Pi Phi, the oldest African-American Fraternity.
Williams lives in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He is married to Barbara Johnson Williams, a retired educator.
Awards and honors
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. He received the Presidential Citation in 1995 from Dr. Henry N. Tisdale, president of Claflin University. The South Carolina African-American Heritage Commission gave him the 2006 “Preserving Our Place in History” Award. And in 2016, the Commission presented him with the DeCosta Jr. Trailblazer Award.
Published works
Books
- Freedom and Justice: Four Decades of the Civil Rights Struggle as Seen by a Black Photographer of the Deep South (1995)
- Out-of-the-Box in Dixie: Cecil Williams’ Photography of the South Carolina Events that Changed America (2006)
- Orangeburg 1968…: A Place and Time Remembered, co-written with Sonny Dubose (2008)
- Unforgettable All the Memories We Left Behind: The Art, Design, and Photography of Cecil Williams, 1950-2013 (2016)
"Painter Showcase: A Gallery of Modern Portraiture, Beyond the Camera's Capability: 2013 "Calhoun County,: co-written with two other authors: 2012
Documentaries
- Freedom and Justice (1996)
- Out of the Box in Dixie (2006)