Claude C. Williams

Who was Claude C. Williams?

Claude Clossey Williams was a Presbyterian minister active for more than 50 years in civil rights, race relations, and labor advocacy. He worked with the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, founded the People’s Institute for Applied Religion, and served as the national vice president of the American Federation of Teachers. He was also the director of Commonwealth College in Mena, Arkansas, from 1937-1939.

As a young fundamentalist preacher in the rural South, Williams' initial motivation was the spiritual salvation of his parishioners, or in his words, to “save their never-dying, ever-precious souls from the devil’s hell eternal.” This motivation later evolved into a quest for social justice for the poor throughout society, leading to confrontations with white supremacists and lifelong charges of Communist activities. As Williams put it, “I’ve been run out of the best communities, fired from the best churches, and flogged by the best citizens of the South.”