South Carolina H 4285: Dr. Booker T. Williams

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 4285 Text of Previous Version (Apr. 03, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 4285

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A house RESOLUTION

TO REMEMBER AND CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF Booker T. 
WIlliams AND TO HONOR HIS REMARKABLE COntributions TO the medical field in 
Sumter and to the Civil Rights Movement.

Whereas, Robert Lee 
Williams, while a student at Claflin College, now University, met the historic 
figure Booker T. Washington who was on an education tour at the agricultural 
school. The two men became close friends. Robert Williams developed several 
modern techniques that would be taught by Booker T. Washington, including 
diversified crops, better known today as crop rotation. Mr. Williams and his 
wife, Maimie Carion, were blessed with twelve children, the eighth of whom, Booker 
T. Williams born in 1900, was named for his father's good friend; and

Whereas, a proud member of 
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Booker T. Williams earned a bachelor's degree in 
pharmacy from South Carolina State College, now University, and a doctorate in 
dental surgery from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. He became one 
of the first Black dentists in the city of Sumter, where he practiced dentistry 
for forty-two years; and

Whereas, a founding father of 
the NAACP Sumter branch, Dr. Williams was the first vice president and 
organizer of the state conference. In attendance for the conference that year 
were groundbreaking Civil Rights' leaders and activists, such as I. DeQuincey 
Newman, William B. James, Roy Wilkins, Modjeska Simpkins, Harold Boulware, J. 
E. Briggs, and Black historical legend, Thurgood Marshall, who would become the 
first Black Supreme Court justice; and 

Whereas, Dr. Williams served as 
chairman of the NAACP Life Membership Committee, and the Sumter branch filed a 
lawsuit with the United States District Court to desegregate Carnegie Public 
Library and won. Since 1963, that library has been the Sumter County Public 
Library; and

Whereas, helping to dismantle 
segregation, Dr. Williams worked closely with Thurgood Marshall during Jim 
Crow. Dr. Williams became an instrumental voice in the groundbreaking landmark 
case of Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed racial segregation in 
schools by declaring that "separate but equal" was unconstitutional. He played 
a vital role in the Teachers Association Defense Fund, which filed a lawsuit 
demanding equal pay in 1942 for teachers of color. In 1957, he was able to 
travel to Accra, a region in Ghana, Africa, for the celebration of its 
independence from colonialization; and

Whereas, Dr. Williams was chairman 
of the South Carolina Human Relations Committee, a member of the Palmetto 
Medical Dental Pharmaceutical Association and the National Dental Association, 
and the first Black dentist to provide services for children in Head Start 
programs; and

Whereas, on June 27, 1971, the 
Sumter Branch of the NAACP recognized Dr. Williams for his more than forty 
years of unparalleled service to the Sumter community with an award designed to 
recognize those who promote education, dignity, and general welfare for all 
people. Three days after receiving the award, Booker T. Williams passed away at 
the age of seventy-one; and

Whereas, the House of 
Representatives takes great pleasure in recognizing the trailblazing Civil 
Rights' work of Booker T. Williams and his dedication to the dental health of 
his community. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House 
of Representatives:

That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, remember 
and celebrate the life of Booker T. Williams and honor his remarkable contributions 
to the medical field in Sumter and to the Civil Rights Movement.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution 
be presented to the descendants of Booker T. Williams.

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