his wife--junius' wife had predeceased him, and junius left everything else to pierpont, the bank, thehouses, whatever art collections junius had. and pierpont did exactly the same thing. he gave $3 million each to his daughters. his wife got the houses and a trust fund that had been set up by pierpont's own father and additional money from pierpont. but everything else was left to his son. and his will was--it opened with a resounding declaration of his episcopal faith that christ had died for his sins. i'm not sure i'm gonna be able to quote it exactly, but something to the effect that, "i leave my soul to the hands of my redeemer, who may wash it in his blood and bring it cleansed before the throne of our heavenly father." and this much was made of this, as you might imagine, in the press. and preachers, that sunday, all over the country, were quoting this. and one irreverent newspaper--i think it might have been the evening post, said, 'well, this is all well and good, but it shouldn't lead us to conclude that godliness is profitable.' but some paper in texas--reading those words i

from the collection and .nterview with junius williams born in the segregated south but educated in the north, he joined a student nonviolent cord knitting committee in the early 1960's to fight for equal rights. he recalls his work in the civil rights conference he worked -- he organized and a congress they -- and a conversation with malcolm x.. this is part one. it is 90 much -- 90 minutes. the director of the since -- of of smithsonian museum african american history and culture. >> who is junius williams? >> a fascinating individual because his wife straddles oath the south and the north. he is someone who grew up middle-class in richmond, virginia. he went to college in massachusetts and got involved very early in the civil rights new -- movement. he was with a group of people, a group of kids who were going in montgomery in 1963 and 1964. what is fascinating is he to they is introduced student nonv

booth was a great actor of his day, more famously the father of john wilkes but unlike his son, juniusn to killing. so he reached -- he was performing in louisville, and there'd been a big flight of birds, and they were being sold on every corner. so he reached out to a well known minister, james freeman clark, who was one of the leaders of the unitarian movement -- people still know his name -- to do a funeral, a protest. and, you know, clark thought about it, said, nah, i think i'll pass. but booth did rent a hearse and bury the pigeons. what happened, i mean, as time went on, you know, by the 1880s it was clear that the birds were decreasing. and what's interesting and kind of scary is the industry was making up facts, encouraging people, discouraging people from worrying about the birds. so the passenger pigeon laid one egg a year. so people in the, there was a guy named martin, actually, from chicago that said, oh, don't worry, they nest four or five times a year, you know? there's still plenty of them. and, in fact, he wrote an article when the birds finally diddies appear, he sa

was well respected as a businessman, church man in the town, so the white people in charge said if junius white says he was okay, we're going to let him out. they had no idea he was going to try that case. so that's the way that went. i wanted to be a lawyer because they wanted me to be a lawyer more than anything else. so this is what i said. i will apply to two law schools. if i get in one of those two, i'll go. if not, i'm going south. so they said, okay. but they didn't understand the high stakes poker i was playing because i only applied to columbia and yale. i was not going to spend all my time filling out forms for seven law schools and i didn't want to go to any of them any way. and i got in. but by this time tom hayden had approached me, but we might be getting a little ahead of the story. >> let me ask you, it's really interesting. oliver hill, that's a pretty substantial role model. >> and the firm of hill, tucker and marsh. they were all my family friends. >> amazing. when you think about folks like mr. hill and your folks and others in the community, as you think back, who wo

booth was a great actor of his day, more famously the father of john wilkes but unlike his son, juniusing. so he reached -- he was performing in louisville, and there'd been a big flight of birds, and they were being sold on every corner. so he reached out to a well known minister, james freeman clark, who was one of the leaders of the unitarian movement -- people still know his name -- to do a funeral, a protest. and, you know, clark thought about it, said, nah, i think i'll pass. but booth did rent a hearse and bury the pigeons. what happened, i mean, as time went on, you know, by the 1880s it was clear that the birds were decreasing. and what's interesting and kind of scary is the industry was making up facts, encouraging people, discouraging people from worrying about the birds. so the passenger pigeon laid one egg a year. so people in the, there was a guy named martin, actually, from chicago that said, oh, don't worry, they nest four or five times a year, you know? there's still plenty of them. and, in fact, he wrote an article when the birds finally diddies appear, he said -- did

. >> lonnie bunch, who is junius williams? >> junius williams is a really fascinating individual because his life straddles both the south and the north. he is somebody who was, grew up middle class in richmond, virginia. went to college in massachusetts. and got involved very early in the civil rights movement. he was with a group of people, integrated group of kids who were going down to march in montgomery in 1963, 1964 and what is fascinating is that he suddenly is introduced to the student nonviolent coordinating committee, he's introduced to the activity that's going on in the south and he becomes very active there. but what's so powerful about his story is that he goes back to law school and as he's getting ready to go to law school he's asked by tom hayden who was the head of the student for democratic society to come to newark, new jersey to help organize and fight for civil rights in the north. so what junius williams does is he goes to newark and allows us to see the civil rights movement was not simply a southern m

from the collection, an interview with junius williams. williams joined the student nonviolent committee in the early 1960's to fight for equal rights. in part two of this interview, mr. williams talks about his move to newark, new jersey in the 1970's, his work to lift african-americans out of poverty, and the shift from nonviolent resistance to the black power movement. with, a brief conversation lonnie bunch, director of the smithsonian national museum of african american history and culture. >> who is junius williams? really fascinating individual, because his life straddles both the south and the north. grew upmebody who middle-class in richmond, virginia, who went to college in massachusetts, and got involved very early in the civil rights movement. group of people, integrated group of kids who ine going down to march montgomery in 1963, 1964. suddenly is introduced to the student nonviolent coordinating committee. he's introduced to the activity going on in the south and he becomes very active there. what is so powerful about his ba

. >> who is junius williams? >> a fascinating individual because his wife straddles oath the south and the north. he is someone who grew up middle-class in richmond, virginia. he went to college in massachusetts and got involved very early in the civil rights new -- movement. he was with a group of people, a group of kids who were going in montgomery in 1963 and 1964. what is fascinating is he to they is introduced student nonviolent coordinating committee and the activity going on in the south. he becomes active. what is powerful about his story is that he goes back to law school. as he gets ready for law school, he is asked by tom, who was the head of the student for democratic society, to come to new york, new jersey, to help organize and fight the battle for civil rights in the north. what he does is goes to newark and it allows us to see the fact that the civil rights movement was not simply a seven movement. his story illuminates the challenge of nonviolence in urban settings, the challenge of market -- mar

. >> lonnie bunch, who is junius williams? >> junius williams is a really fascinating individual because his life straddles both the south and the north. he is somebody who was, grew up middle class in richmond, virginia. went to college in massachusetts. and got involved very

from the collection, an interview with junius williams. williams joined the student nonviolent committee in the early 1960's to fight for equal rights. in part two of this interview, mr. williams talks about his move to newark, new jersey in the 1970's, his work to lift african-americans out of poverty, and the shift from nonviolent resistance to the black power movement. with, a brief conversation lonnie bunch, director of the smithsonian national museum of african american history and culture. >> who is junius williams? really fascinating individual, because his life straddles both the south and the north. grew upmebody who middle-class in richmond, virginia, who went to college in massachusetts, and got involved very early in the civil rights movement. he was