Civil Rights-era photographer Cecil Williams's latest publication, Unforgettable: All the Memories We Left Behind, is an extraordinary collection of images and stories celebrating 50 years of South Carolina African American history, heritage, and culture.  The book contains many never-before published photographs by the Orangeburg, South Carolina, native who started in photography at the age of nine and became a JET magazine photojournalist by age fourteen.  Unforgettable includes many South Carolina milestones that have spanned 50 years or longer, including Harvey Gantt at Clemson University, the Clarendon County Briggs v. Elliott petition, the Orangeburg Fight for Freedom, the rise of student activism, the resignations of Elloree school teachers, the candidacy of President John F. Kennedy, the emergence of the sit-ins, and the Orangeburg, Columbia, and Sumter marches and demonstrations. Also included are images of the Orangeburg Massacre and the Charleston Hospital Workers' strike.  Williams also includes historically significant portraits, creative paintings, product inventions, digital art, sketches, and architectural projects for homes he designed and lived in.

Unforgettable: Life Hope Bravery

Arts & Photography

Cecil Williams

Individual Artists

Cecil Williams Photography/Publishing

Between 1965 and 1968, racial unrest was sparked when Orangeburg's black residents tried to integrate the All-Star Bowling Lanes, a "White-Only" facility located only a few blocks from South Carolina State College and Claflin College. Through his impeccable eye for detail and stunning portraits of reality, Cecil J. Williams and Sonny DuBose capture the tumultuous circumstances of one of South Carolina's greatest sorrows. This collection of stories, interviews and photographs revolves around a tragic event on February 8, 1968, when an all-white throng of state police unleashed massive gunfire into a crowd of about 150 students near the edge of the South Carolina State College campus. Three students were killed, and 27 were injured. Orangeburg 1968 is one of the most comprehensive books ever published about the Orangeburg Massacre. Many observers and surviving eyewitnesses reveal their stories in the unprecedented collection of historical interviews and photographs. Retold in the survivors' own words and Williams's pictures, this book remains a tribute to the lives of the students who suffered, fought, and died to reclaim their rights and freedom.

Orangeburg 1968: A Place and Time Remembered (Distributed for Cecil Williams Photography)

Sonny DuBose

Photography & Video

Cecil Williams Publishing

The 1949 Briggs vs. Elliot case that originated in Clarendon County and the Orangeburg selective buying campaign were both crucial events in the creation of the civil rights movement that changed the course of United States history. Out-of-the-Box in Dixie is the story of these heroic people whose quest for equality, sacrifices and contributions should not be forgotten. It was the Briggs vs. Elliot case that caused the national office of the NAACP to redirect its approach from suing for "separate but equal" facilities to challenging segregation as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court handed down the decision that segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This publication is dedicated to documenting the unobtrusive heroism and actions of many people who have been inadequately represented in interpretive discussion relative to desegregation and equality in America.

Out-of-the-Box in Dixie: Cecil Williams' Photography of the South Carolina Events that Changed America (Distributed for Cecil Williams Photography)

Cecil Williams PHOTO/PUBLISHING, LLC.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Cecil Williams. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Cecil Williams