Cecil Williams Author

Cecil Williams was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, in 1937. At nine years old he became fascinated with photography after his older brother passed down a Baby Brownie Special. Williams dedicated himself to photographing civil rights activism, which he called a "journey toward freedom, justice, and equality" for Black publications such as Jet, Ebony, and the Crisis, and for white-owned newspapers through the Associated Press. In 2019 he founded the Cecil Williams South Carolina Civil Rights Museum, which preserves and exhibits photographs, documents, and artifacts from the state's civil rights activists. It is the state's first and only civil rights museum. Williams lives in Orangeburg, SC.

Claudia Smith Brinson is an award-winning ournalist with more than thirty years of experience at newspapers in Greece, Florida, and South Carolina. Brinson spent most of her journalism career with Knight Ridder at The State newspaper in Columbia, SC, while also freelancing for national publications. She is the author of Stories of Struggle: The Clash over Civil Rights in South Carolina (University of South Carolina Press). Brinson lives in Columbia, SC.