Milton Williams Photography

 

 

Copyright 2013  

Row 1, Box 1:   Roy Lewis, Mississippi born, Washington, D. C. based career free lance internationally known history maker photographer for over 51 years putting the final display arrangement on his Nigerian FESTAC 77 photo exhibit at University of the District of Columbia on April 12, 1978.  Photo by Milton Williams c. 4.12.1978

Row 1, Box 2: Gil Scott Heron pictured with my wife's uncle, Norris "Brute" Little (seated) at the Ed Murphy 's Supper Club then located in the 2200 block of Georgia Avenue N. W. in Washington D. C.  Brute, president of Charima Productions, was Gil's business manager.  He also managed Roy Ayers, Jon Lucien, The Young Senators, Brute Band and Show and Plunkey and the Oneness of Ju Ju. I don't recalled the names of the ladies pictured with them. Photo by Milton Williams c. 10.1976.

Row 1, Box 3: Terry Pendergrass performing at the Congressional black caucus dinner  Life Is a Song Worth Singing in 1978. "That album was even more successful with its singles including "Only You" and "Close the Door". The disco single, "Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose" was popular in dance clubs.  Between 1977 and 1981, Pendergrass landed five consecutive platinum albums, which was a then-record setting number for a rhythm and blues artist."  ***Wikipedia.  Photo by Milton Williams c. 9.1978.

 Row 1, Box 4: "Samuel Frederick Yette was the first Black Washington correspondent at Newsweek magazine and author, in 1971, of  The Choice: The Issue of Black Survival in America,  the book that got him fired from that position. He said he was compelled to write his book after witnessing an absence of change over the decade of struggle in the 1960s.", Dr. Jared A. Ball, Black Agenda Radio Commentary 01/25/2011.  Today, 1/28/2011; I attended Samuel Frederick Yette's Celebration of Life.  I didn't attend his Celebration of  Life as a photographer today. I wasn't feeling photography.  Others handled that. I got to know about Sam's life  through the testimony of family, friends,colleagues -  by just being there seeing and listening. My wife Sheila reminded me, upon seeing Sam's Celebration of Life program, that we use to see Sam quite often shopping at the Giant Food Store located at Bel Pre Road and Layhill Road when we lived in Montgomery County a decade ago.I met Sam Yette in 1973 as a start up wannabee photographer free lancing for the Washington Afro American Newspaper three years before I became the staff photographer in September 1976 when then staff photographer Cliff Cabell died suddenly.  At the time I didn't know Sam's history. He was a columnist who taught journalism at Howard University who would drop off his column to Art Carter. I would see him with Ray Boone in discussion about the world events of the day. I remember his stunning photographs of the Great Wall in China.  I remember his Million Man March posters he had reproduced from the photo he took and was selling. He was proud to show and discussed his photographs at  various Capital Press Club Inc. and Exposure Group meetings we use to attend together. He was always just a delightful person to talk with.   Photo by Milton Williams c. 11.8.1982.

Row 1, Box 5: We The People demonstration in front of the U. S. Capitol. Photo by Milton Williams c. 9.17.1998.

Row 2, Box 1: Zimbabwe Southern Africa Kawondera Primary School dancers welcoming cermony. Photo from my June 2001 Zimbabwe Africa trip as staff photographer for the American Federation of Teachers AFL-CIO to photograph the AFT-AFRICA AIDS CAMPAIGN. Thirty percent of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) had AIDS. The late Sandra Feldman AFT President said, " At this moment in this struggle against AIDS is the most important way AFT members can help African teachers and students." AFT provided teacher training and raised programs funds needed to help sister African organizations expand their effective programs. We , ( Daryl Alexander and Joe Davis and I) , traveled in a pickup truck from Harare (Capitol City of Zimbabwe) to various schools sites and AIDS centers in Marondera, Rusape, Mutare,Gwanda, Bulawayo, Gweru, Rhodes Matopos National Park in Zimbabwe. The worst part of the whole trip for me was the soldiers at the various road blocks carrying AK47's. That and the donkeys, cows, baboon troops standing in the middle of the road at any time of day or night.  Photograph by Milton Williams/AFT  ©  6. 2001.

Row 2, Box 2: Lerone Bennett, Jr. (born 17 October 1928) is an African-American scholar, author "Before The Mayflower" and social historian, much controverted by some people by his book, between others, Forced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream in the year 2000. ***Wikipedia   He was the  key note speaker  at the 85th Annual Black history Month speaking on Black Americans and The Civil War.   Photo by Milton Williams © 2.26.2011

Row 2,, Box 3:  Miss.Vanessa Williams and Miss. Suzanne Charles, who took first and second place respectively,  in the Miss America Pageant, 1983. This photograph was taken during a guest appearance at a reception in their honor at the  1983 National Conference of  Black Mayors at the Capitol Hilton Hotel in downtown Washington D. C. Photo by Milton Williams ©. 10. 23. 1983 

Row 2, Box 4: Federal City College Cheerleaders, performing  at Cardozo High school football field.  I was born where the building is pictured (then Garfield Hospital - 11th and Florida Ave N. W. Washington D. C.) directly behind the cheerleaders 71 Mays ago.  Photo by Milton Williams ©. 10.1976.

Row 2, Box 5: Zimbabwe Southern Africa  Dambudzo Primary School. Photo from my June 2001 Zimbabwe Africa trip as staff photographer for the American Federation of Teachers AFL-CIO to photograph the AFT-AFRICA AIDS CAMPAIGN. Thirty percent of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) had AIDS. The late Sandra Feldman AFT President said, " At this moment in this struggle against AIDS is the most important way AFT members can help African teachers and students." AFT provided teacher training and raised programs funds needed to help sister African organizations expand their effective programs. We , ( Daryl Alexander and Joe Davis and I) , traveled in a pickup truck from Harare (Capitol City of Zimbabwe) to various schools sites and AIDS centers in Marondera, Rusape, Mutare,Gwanda, Bulawayo, Gweru, Rhodes Matopos National Park in Zimbabwe. The worst part of the whole trip for me was the soldiers at the various road blocks carrying AK47's. That and the donkeys, cows, baboon troops standing in the middle of the road at any time of day or night.  Photograph by Milton Williams/AFT  ©  6, 2001.

Row 3.Box 1: My photo entitled MONIQUE is viewed by visitors at The Museu Afro Brasil in San Paulo, Brazil, Presents The Exposure Group Exhibition - U. S. Civil Rights Struggles and Achievements: From King to Obama  Exhibit. Photo by Rodney Drummond ©. 2009.  

Row 3, Box 2: Williams family members, Kado Wilks Sr., McCoy Williams Sr., James Henry Johnson Jr., Ph.D. and  James Henry Johnson Sr., Fountain, N. C. Photo was taken in the home of James Henry Johnson Sr. and Ruby Lee Williams Johnson.  No telling what cousin Kado was talking about. You would have to ask  the "Doctor" as Kado called him what he said. Photograph by Milton Williams  © July 2, 2006.   

Row 3, Box 3: 1989 Little Family Reunion in Washington, D. C. - pictured left-right  Milton Williams, Dr. Betty Shabazz, Wilfred Edgerton Little and wife Ruth Little.  He was oldest brother of Malcolm X / Hajj Malik  Shabazz.  In 1948, with the assistance of his brother Reginald, he introduced Malcolm, then serving a burgarly sentence in a Massachusetts prison, to the (NOI) Nation Of Islam. In 1952, Malcolm was paroled into Little's custody and lived with him in Inster, Michigan, before his meteoric rise as Malcolm X, minister of the New mosque and the NOI's national representative. "And the rest", as Wilfred told a friend, "is history".  He passed after a brief illness on May, 19 1998, at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit (coincidentally, on Malcolm X's 73rd birthday). ",  A Celebration of the Life of Wilfred Edgerton Little, Sr. home going program paper. During the 1989 Little Family Reunion  dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel  he made a the following statement, "If you marry a Little from Pitt County N. C., you are marrying your cousin". My fathers folk are from Pitt Country and we are intermarried with the Little's. The last time I saw and spoke with Wilfred Edgerton Little  was at Dr. Betty Shabazz's Memorial Service, Riverside Baptist Church on West 92nd Street at Amsterdam Avenue New York, N.Y.,  June 1997.   At the 1994 Little family Reunion at the New York Hilton Hotel,  before  introducing Spike Lee's Malcolm X film for a special Movie sceening for Little Family members, cousin Betty as she was referred to by some of the Little family members said, "Malcolm X was the best tool that  Elijah Muhammad ever had". I videod her saying that. I videoed and photographed both events. The Little Family  attended  Riverside Baptist Church services  on West 92nd Street at Amsterdam Avenue New York, N.Y. the next day.  Dr. Shabazz had a row of seats sectioned off up front.  She was so happy that Malcolm's family was attending church services there. The last time I was in Dr. Shabazz presence was on H Street N. W.when I was about to enter the Renaissance Hotel when she and  Maya Angelou emerged from a black limo. She introduced me to Maya Angelou as being married to  Malcolm's cousin on the elevator going to the NCNW gala concert event. Earlier that day, I photographed  the National Council of Negro Women Inc. President Dr. Dorothy Irene Height introducing (NCNW)  Voices Of Vision, African Women on the Issues book to NCNW National Board members and press before the  NCNW building site dedication program at 633 Pennsylvania Avenue N. W. Seated (left to Right) Dr. Dovey J. Roundtree Esq., Dr. Betty Shabazz, Dr. Dorothy I. Height and Corretta Scott King.  October 10, 1996. (Center photo on home page.)   I was there to capture the event throught the lens of my camera, which I did. That is my legacy.  Photo by Sheila L. Williams ©. July 13, 1989. 

Row 3. Box 4: Mt. Zion Methodist Church Womens Day guest speaker Dr. Betty Shabazz pictured with Thomas Little family decendants. Oscar V. Little, Phd. standing to the left of Dr. Shabazz was the Little family historian. Oscar V. Little Phd. is one of the six  Alpha Chapter, Iota Upsilon Lambda men credited with getting the Rev. Martin Luther King memorial statue built on the Washington D. C. mall. My wife Sheila (standing to the right of Dr. Shabazz) grand father and Malcolm's father were brothers. They were the sons of Tony and Carrie Little. She asked Dr. Shabazz if she would speak to which she agreed. I videoed the event. The church raised $14,000.00 as a result of her Women's  Day speech about Malcolm X, their life,  how she and close friends raised her daughters. The church located in Georgetown, Washington, D. C. celebrated it's 178th year. The next night, Oscar V. Little, my brother in law, Harold Little Sr. (standing far right) and I attended the 29th anniversity  MALCOLM X Annual Commemoration Transforming the Legacy, Monday, February 21, 1994, Abyssinian Baptist Church, New York, New York at Dr. Shabazz's invitation.  The event was sponsored by The Malcolm X Educational Foundation, Inc., Dr. Betty Shabazz, C. E. O. The Malcolm X Scholarship, a living memorial to Malcolm X, was established in 1983 by Columbia University, working with Dr. Betty Shabazz. Two scholarships are awarded each year to African-American students at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, who are most likely to make contributions to the improvement of health problems in African-American communities, and the broader society. The awards are made for two years in support of the third and forth years of medical schools. Class of 1994 recipient was Kevin Williams. Class of 1995 recipients where Kristen Graves, Kathie-Ann Ramsey, Diane Ridley, Mia Wright and Carol Worrell. I videoed and photographed both events. Photo by Milton Williams ©. Feb 20, 1994.

Row 3, Box 5:   Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial Service, Riverside Baptist Church, West 92nd Street at Amsterdam Avenue New York, N.Y. Photo by Milton Williams ©. June 1997. 

Row 4, Box 1: Shah is a Murderer demonstration. Photo by Milton Williams © 9.20.1978

Row 4. Box 2; Que dogs celebrate the Dr. Oscar J. Cooper memorial statue unveiling at Howard University.  He was a founder of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity  in 1911. Photo by Milton Williams © 4.1978.

Row 4, Box 3. George B. Murphy Jr. working out of his office in the basement of the Washington Afro American Newspaper located than at 11th and S Streets N. W. . He was the son of Carl Murphy (1889-1967), civil rights leader, educator, journalist, publisher, of the Baltimore Afro American Newspaper. "George B. Murphy, Jr. of Washington D.C. was friend of with Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and his wife Shirley Graham; the singer and freedom fighter, Paul Robeson and his wife Eslanda Goode Robeson.  I n 1950, Murphy was the campaign manager in Dr. W.E.B. DuBois' run for a U.S. Senate seat from New York. In his autobiography, Dubois writes that he was an "indicted criminal" accused by Cold War witch-hunters of being an "agent of a foreign power" in his role as Executive Director of the Peace Information Center."  http://keywiki.org/index.php/George_Murphy.   He was responsible for me exhibitng the Joan Little Murder trial documentary photographs/captions in the October Revolution Celebration in Russia in 1976. I was told that the exhibition toured the principle cities of the Soviet Union. I received a lapel metal from   the Embassy for participating in this  exhibition. Click here to see.   George would walk most places. You could count on him and me to be at most public demonstrations.  In the photo's viewed by you the reader, he was telling me, "They don't care about you!!!" More about George B. Murphy visit  http://www.peoplesworld.org/black-history-month-george-b-murphy-jr-journalist-for-the-people/  article.  Photo by Milton Williams © 4. 1973.

Row 4. Box 4. My Washington D. C. homeboys,  former Theodore Roosevelt H. S. classmates,  friends from other schools; friends  of 55 years plus meeting at Joe Gibson's home located  in Southern Prince Georges County Md. Joe and Herman Thompson host these get together meetings 3-4 times a year. My peers where successful at what ever arena they chose to enter in their lives. They paved the way for others. They are/where Viet Nam veterans such as  Colonel William A. Jordan, USAF who  flew the C-7A Caribou aircraft during theViet Nam war.  He accumulated 866 combat hours on 137 combat missions in this aircraft. and won a Distinguished Flying Cross for his services. They were  lawyers, educators, doctors, police chief, fire chief, detectives, businessmen, U. S. and D. C. Goverment employees, internationally known highly regarded high school track coach (Adrian Dixon), AFL-CIO trade union workers, Howard Universtity professors, judges, surgeons, South East D. C. activitst, etc.  The average age of the brothers is 70 July's. We passed a lot of telephone poles to get to this meeting stage in our lives. GOD IS GOOD!!!  Photo by Milton Williams ©. 5.15.2011.

Row 4. Box 5. Clowns preparing to entertain on  Anacostia Museum grounds .  Photo by Milton Williams ©. 6.2003

Row 5. Box 1. Michael Angelo Graham, editor-in-chief of the Washington New Observer Newspaper, with Arthur Mantel Carter, publisher of the Washington Afro-American Newspaper, in conversation on the steps of the Washington Afro-American Newspaper building in D. C. I met Mike in 1954 when he was rehearsing "In My Diary" and "The Ten Commanndments" (which he wrote) with the Moonglows.  He spent fifty years in show business and was a freelance writer, a comic, an M. C., and a producer. He worked with various singers and doowop groups and helped launch the careers of Van Allen McCoy, Marvin Gaye, the Clovers, Johnny Hartman, Don Covey, and Billy StewartArt Carter began his career as a police reporter and sports writer for the Afro-American in 1937.  In 1939 he became the sports editor of the Baltimore Afro-American Newspaper and wrote a weekly column, "From the Bench", which helped black players to enter the segregated professional baseball league through his coverage of the National Negro Baseball League.  In 1943 Carter was one of five black war correspondents covering the war effort in North Africa and Italy.  The U. S. War Department cited him for excellence in journalism for covering the historic missions of the black air squadrons under what were often life threatening conditions. He contributed to "This Is Our War," a collection of AFRO World War II articles the company self-published in 1945. For more information on the AFRO and World War II, check the AFRO's Website at www.afroam.org.  After the war he worked for three different editions of the Afro-American Newspaper until 1970, when he returned to Washington to become the editor-in-chief and the  publisher of the Washington Afro-American Newspaper. He was my boss at the Afro-American. Some of what you see in black and white on this website were assignments he and Ruth Jenkins sent me on or I brought to the paper.  As a result, I  photographed against the best in the world.  Photo by Milton Williams, ©. September 1978.

Row 5. Box 2.  Petrol Stop; Half Way House, Meadlands Zimbabwe people protector against a male Lion and his Lioness whom were behind a ricky fence about 100 steps from my window. We ( Daryl Alexander, Joe Davis and I) were there because the Landrover truck we were riding in cutch's died at the petrol stop on a mountain top . We were forced to spent the night at the Half Way House lodge in Meadlands Zimbabwe. I heard this Lion roaring and after reading the beware sign I paid the guard $5.00 U. S. dollars to shoot the Lion if the he Lion or the she  Lion acted out. The lion roared all night long. I feft oppressed. I didn't come to Africa to be discovered by the Lion.  In the morning I viewed and photographed what I was dealing with. Photo by Milton Williams ©. June 21, 2001.

Box 5. Box 3  Washington D. C. Mayor Walter E. Washington, The District of  Columbia's First Elected Mayor Since Reconstruction. Photo by Milton Williams ©. April 1977