The Radical Reader by Timothy Patrick McCarthy John Campbell McMillian Eric Foner

Author:Timothy Patrick McCarthy, John Campbell McMillian, Eric Foner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Press, The
Published: 2011-06-02T16:00:00+00:00

When the question was posed as to whether the people would end the one-day bus boycott, thousands of voices shouted the same word, “No! No!” One lone voice cried out in clear tones, “This is just the beginning!” Thunderous applause was the response.

91. ROBERT F. WILLIAMS

We Must Fight Back (1959)

ROBERT F. WILLIAMS’s “We Must Fight Back” argued against the nonviolent tactics of the civil rights movement. Williams (1925–1996) was born in Monroe, North Carolina. After working in Detroit and serving in the U.S. Marines, he returned to Monroe in 1955, and in 1956 he became president of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was later suspended for proclaiming that African Americans must be willing “to meet violence with violence.” In 1961 he relocated to Cuba in exile, where he produced Radio Free Dixie, a radio program that broadcast across the U.S. South and mixed blues and jazz music with news and political commentary. From Cuba, Williams also published the Crusader, a newsletter he founded in 1959. Williams returned to the United States in 1969, where he continued to work as an activist until his death in 1996. His editorial “We Must Fight Back” championed armed self-defense for African Americans who could not count on protection from local law enforcement or the federal government. The article first appeared in Liberation magazine in September 1959, and it was met with a rejoinder from Martin Luther King, Jr., the following month.

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