Franklin H. Williams

Franklin H. Williams, appointed by the Chief Judge of New York to chair the New York Judicial Commission on Minorities in 1987, brought together in 1988 his counterparts from New Jersey, Michigan, and Washington to form the National Consortium of Task Forces and Commission on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts. From that beginning we have representation from about thirty states, the District of Columbia and Canadian provinces.

Born in Flushing, Queens, New York in 1917, Ambassador Williams was a proud African American who descended from Algonquin Indian, Black freedmen, runaway slaves and Dutch and English ancestors to become known throughout the worked as a “lawyer, educator, and government official active in civil rights causes” until his death on May 20, 1990 at the age of 72 years.

Ambassador Williams was an honor graduate of Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) in 1941, served in the United States Army, and graduated from Fordham University School of Law in 1945, passing the New York State bar examination before receiving his degree. He served with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People with (Justice) Thurgood Marshall, argued before the Supreme Court, and then served as West Coast Regional Director for the Association. He conducted drives for legislation on minority employment, won the first judgment in a case involving school desegregation, and effectuated removal of restrictive covenant on real estate.

Ambassador Williams’ work came to the attention of the Attorney General of California who appointed him as an Assistant Attorney General to create that state’s first Constitutional Rights Section in its Department of Justice. Then in 1960, taking an active part in the national elections, he was invited by President John F. Kennedy to serve his administration as Special Assistant to the Sargent Shriver, Director of the Peace Corps, and later being designated as Peace Corps Regional Director for Africa. 


May 9, 1998
From the 1998 National Consortium Packet