Episode 53: Junius Williams

Junius Williams has been a cornerstone of civil rights activism in the City of Newark since the late 1960s. He’s fought to cultivate jobs in Newark, affordable housing in Newark. He even managed the campaign that got the first black mayor elected in Newark. Born in Virginia, Williams earned degrees at Amherst College and Yale Law School. As an attorney, he has represented the Rev. Jesse Jackson and in 1978, he was elected president of the National Bar Association. He has also been listed among Ebony magazine’s “100 Most Influential Blacks in America.” Today, he is the director of Rutgers University’s Abbott Leadership Institute, where he teaches education leaders to advocate for the Newark Public Schools. He is also the author of “Unfinished Agenda: Urban Politics in the Era of Black Power” (North Atlantic Books), his political memoir of grassroots politics and community organizing. In this episode, Williams compares the civil rights activism of the 1960s and 1970s with the activism of today, and he emphasizes the importance of the Blues to black culture in America.