The W. Hazaiah Williams Papers consists of the administrative files of the Center for Urban-Black Studies and assorted subject files, photographs, notebooks, and printed material documenting the career of theologian, civil rights activist, and educator W. Hazaiah Williams.

Theologian, civil rights activist, and educator William Hazaiah Williams Jr. (1930-1999) was born on May 14, 1930 in Columbus, Ohio the youngest of six children to Rev. W. Hazaiah Williams Sr. and Cora Leon Williams. His father was a Methodist minister, who was the first to receive a master’s degree from Howard University, and he assertively preached against racial segregation which led the church relocating him from a parish with 3,000 members to one with just 25. William Hazaiah Williams Jr. attended schools in Columbus as a child before the family moved to Detroit, Michigan where he graduated from Northern High School in 1947. He attended Adrian College for two years, where he was elected class president his sophomore year and held a weekly radio program. In 1950, he transferred to Wayne State University where he majored in biology and sociology, graduating with his degree in 1952. Three years later he earned a Master of Theology from Boston University’s School of Theology.

11.75 linear feet (10 boxes + 1 oversized box)

Permission to publish from the W. Hazaiah Williams papers must be obtained from the African American Museum & Library at Oakland.

No access restrictions. Collection is open to the public.