MONROE — The NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources approved the application of a historical marker for Robert F. Williams.

Robert Franklin Williams was one of the most influential active radical minds of a generation that toppled Jim Crow and forever affected American and African-American history.

Williams was born in Monroe on February 26, 1925 to Emma Carter and John L. Williams who worked as a railroad boiler washer. He had two sisters, Lorraine Garlington and Jessie Link, and two brothers, John H. Williams and Edward S. Williams. In 1947 Williams married Mabel Ola Robinson, a fellow civil rights activist. They had two children, John C. Williams and Robert F Williams, Jr.

Williams was elected President of the Monroe NAACP with Dr. A.E. Perry as Vice -President; the two generated a new energy in the community. During his time as the president of the Monroe branch of the NAACP in the 1950’s, Williams and his most dedicated followers (women and men) used machine guns, Molotov cocktails, and explosives to defend against Klan terrorists.

First, they worked to integrate the Public Library. After that success in 1957 Williams also led efforts to integrate the public swimming pool which was funded and operated by taxpayers’ monies. He had followers form picket lines around the pool. The organized followers peacefully demonstrated, but opponents fired on their lines. No one was arrested or punished although law enforcement officers were present. Monroe had a large KKK chapter, estimate by some in the press to have 7500 members or supporters, that sowed confusion in this city of 12,000 residents. Williams gained national and even international attention with the Monroe Kissing Case, the Swimming Pool Incident, and the Kidnapping Case. Robert Williams’ history is well documented in the following books: Negroes With Guns by Robert F. Williams, Radio Free Dixie by Dr. Timothy Tyson, and Audacity: Story of a Legendary Hero by Connie Williams.

Williams’ final battle in Monroe came in August 1961. Freedom Riders, who had traveled from the North to demonstrate against segregation with local black youth, were assaulted by whites while in Monroe. The Freedom Riders were given sanctuary in the black section of town, and Williams’ armed supporters established a line of defense on the border between the white and black sections. The events of August 1961 drove Williams into exile in Cuba and later China. He moved back to the U.S in 1969 and returned to Monroe occasionally until his death in 1996.

David Ormand Moore, Humanities Instructor at the NC School of Science and Mathematics, collaborated with A Few Good Men, a local organization, to submit the application in October 2022. Ormand Moore is a graduate of Sun Valley High School near Monroe.

The historical marker will be installed on the corner of Boyte Street and Highway 74. This will be the first Highway Historical Marker for an African American in Union County.

The dedication of the Highway Historical Marker is planned for August 26, 2023, and will be followed by a luncheon. The times and places will be given later.