Bishop Frank Williams, late civil rights leader, honored with exhibit at Greensboro History Museum

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — A Greensboro civil rights activist is getting an exhibit that’ll showcase his legacy in the Triad.

The legacy of Bishop Frank Williams is on full display in the Greensboro History Museum following a long-awaited ribbon cutting and the grand reveal of the new exhibit.

The exhibit is filled with his paraphernalia. His wife, ​Florence Williams, says it includes items he used while pastoring at New Jerusalem Cathedral for several years and photos of the many lives he touched and advocated for.

“Well, these are many things that I’ve always held so dear to my heart. There’s some things that the community was aware of and other things the community wasn’t,” Florence Williams said.

According to the late reverend’s son, Kevin Williams, he was notably friends with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He helped organize one of King’s Poor People’s Marches right here in Greensboro in March 1968 with tens of thousands of people participating.

“In fact, it was so large it took helicopters back in the 1960s to be able to see the amount of people who were apart of that March. It used to build people up, and people that were disenfranchised. he gave them a voice,” Kevin Williams said.

Because of Bishop Frank Williams’ outspokenness in the late 1960s, Florence Williams says they received threats from white supremacists when they moved to an all-white neighborhood off of Holts Chapel Road. It got so bad, it put Greensboro in the international spotlight.

“It was horrible. We had to call the police. They called the National Guard. It was awful. Crosses were burned. Never had I seen anything like that,” Florence Williams said.

Florence Williams says her and her late husband who passed away in 1998 endured the hatred and stayed in the neighborhood. She hopes by sharing her husband’s story, history isn’t erased or repeated.

Both Florence and Kevin Williams will participate in a panel discussion Thursday at the Greensboro History Museum to discuss Rev. Frank Williams’ legacy from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

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