A Bridge to Justice: The Life of Franklin H. Williams
Documents the life of a gifted African American leader whose contributions were pivotal to the movement for social justice and racial equality

Franklin Hall Williams was a visionary and trailblazer who devoted his life to the pursuit of civil rights—not through acrimony and violence and hatred but through reason and example. A Bridge to Justice sheds new light on this practical, pragmatic bridge-builder and brilliant, complex individual whose life reflected the opportunities and constraints of an intellectually elite Black man in the twentieth century.

Franklin H. Williams was considered a “bridge” figure, someone whose position outside the limelight allowed him to navigate both Black and white circles, span the more turbulent racial waters below, and persuade people to see the world in a new way. During his prolific lifetime, he was a civil rights leader, lawyer, diplomat, organizer of the Peace Corps, United Nations representative, foundation president, and associate of Thurgood Marshall on some of the seminal civil liberties cases of the past hundred years, though their relationship was so fraught with tension that Marshall had Williams sent to California. He worked in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, served as a diplomat, and became an exceptionally persuasive advocate for civil rights. Even after enduring the segregated Army, suffering cruel discrimination, and barely escaping a murderous lynch mob eager to make him pay for zealously representing three innocent Black men falsely accused of rape, Franklin was not a hater. He believed that Americans, in general, were good people who were open to reason and, in their hearts, sympathetic to fairness and justice.

Dr. Enid Gort, an anthropologist and Africanist who conducted hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with Williams, his family, friends, colleagues, and compatriots, and John M. Caher, a professional writer and legal journalist, have co-written an exhaustively researched and scrupulously documented account of this civil rights champion’s life and impact. His story is an object lesson to help this nation heal and advance through unity rather than tribalism.

"1140873684"
A Bridge to Justice: The Life of Franklin H. Williams
Documents the life of a gifted African American leader whose contributions were pivotal to the movement for social justice and racial equality

Franklin Hall Williams was a visionary and trailblazer who devoted his life to the pursuit of civil rights—not through acrimony and violence and hatred but through reason and example. A Bridge to Justice sheds new light on this practical, pragmatic bridge-builder and brilliant, complex individual whose life reflected the opportunities and constraints of an intellectually elite Black man in the twentieth century.

Franklin H. Williams was considered a “bridge” figure, someone whose position outside the limelight allowed him to navigate both Black and white circles, span the more turbulent racial waters below, and persuade people to see the world in a new way. During his prolific lifetime, he was a civil rights leader, lawyer, diplomat, organizer of the Peace Corps, United Nations representative, foundation president, and associate of Thurgood Marshall on some of the seminal civil liberties cases of the past hundred years, though their relationship was so fraught with tension that Marshall had Williams sent to California. He worked in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, served as a diplomat, and became an exceptionally persuasive advocate for civil rights. Even after enduring the segregated Army, suffering cruel discrimination, and barely escaping a murderous lynch mob eager to make him pay for zealously representing three innocent Black men falsely accused of rape, Franklin was not a hater. He believed that Americans, in general, were good people who were open to reason and, in their hearts, sympathetic to fairness and justice.

Dr. Enid Gort, an anthropologist and Africanist who conducted hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with Williams, his family, friends, colleagues, and compatriots, and John M. Caher, a professional writer and legal journalist, have co-written an exhaustively researched and scrupulously documented account of this civil rights champion’s life and impact. His story is an object lesson to help this nation heal and advance through unity rather than tribalism.

34.95 In Stock
A Bridge to Justice: The Life of Franklin H. Williams

A Bridge to Justice: The Life of Franklin H. Williams

A Bridge to Justice: The Life of Franklin H. Williams

A Bridge to Justice: The Life of Franklin H. Williams

Hardcover

$34.95 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

Documents the life of a gifted African American leader whose contributions were pivotal to the movement for social justice and racial equality

Franklin Hall Williams was a visionary and trailblazer who devoted his life to the pursuit of civil rights—not through acrimony and violence and hatred but through reason and example. A Bridge to Justice sheds new light on this practical, pragmatic bridge-builder and brilliant, complex individual whose life reflected the opportunities and constraints of an intellectually elite Black man in the twentieth century.

Franklin H. Williams was considered a “bridge” figure, someone whose position outside the limelight allowed him to navigate both Black and white circles, span the more turbulent racial waters below, and persuade people to see the world in a new way. During his prolific lifetime, he was a civil rights leader, lawyer, diplomat, organizer of the Peace Corps, United Nations representative, foundation president, and associate of Thurgood Marshall on some of the seminal civil liberties cases of the past hundred years, though their relationship was so fraught with tension that Marshall had Williams sent to California. He worked in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, served as a diplomat, and became an exceptionally persuasive advocate for civil rights. Even after enduring the segregated Army, suffering cruel discrimination, and barely escaping a murderous lynch mob eager to make him pay for zealously representing three innocent Black men falsely accused of rape, Franklin was not a hater. He believed that Americans, in general, were good people who were open to reason and, in their hearts, sympathetic to fairness and justice.

Dr. Enid Gort, an anthropologist and Africanist who conducted hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with Williams, his family, friends, colleagues, and compatriots, and John M. Caher, a professional writer and legal journalist, have co-written an exhaustively researched and scrupulously documented account of this civil rights champion’s life and impact. His story is an object lesson to help this nation heal and advance through unity rather than tribalism.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781531500863
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Publication date: 10/04/2022
Pages: 288
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Enid Gort (Author)
Enid Gort, Ph.D., is an anthropologist and Africanist. Her articles have appeared in numerous academic journals, including the Journal of African Studies and Social Science and Medicine. She was a consultant on, and appeared in, an award-winning PBS documentary on Ambassador Williams. Dr. Gort holds a degree in education from Kean College and a master’s and doctorate degrees from Columbia University.

John Caher (Author)
John M. Caher is the author or co-author of seven books and the principal writer of a PBS documentary on Franklin H. Williams, A Bridge to Justice. Mr. Caher has degrees from Syracuse Universityand Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His reporting has garnered more than twenty awards, including prestigious honors from the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, and the Erie County Bar Association.


Table of Contents

Preface | ix

Note from the Authors | xiii

Introduction | 1

1 Roots | 7

2 Coming of Age | 17

3 An “Ole Lady” at Lincoln | 31

4 The Real World | 39

5 The American Veterans Committee | 52

6 Civil Rights Lawyer | 63

7 In the Courts | 74

8 Legal Lynching | 91

9 Passion and Power Plays | 110

10 California Deliverance | 122

11 The Washington Years | 145

12 After Washington | 165

Epilogue | 183

Acknowledgments | 191

Notes | 193

Index | 219

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews