SMU mourns integration trailblazer Cecil Williams
A civil and human rights leader, Rev. Williams was among the five students who made history as the first Black students to graduate from Perkins School of Theology and SMU.
DALLAS (SMU) – The Rev. Cecil Williams, a long-recognized national civil and human rights leader who was one of the five Black students who integrated SMU in 1952, died April 22 at the age of 94.
The admission to SMU’s Perkins School of Theology of Williams and four other Black students represented the first voluntary desegregation of an educational institution in the South. The five graduated from SMU together in 1955.
“Rev. Williams’ life, vision and leadership will continue to inspire all of us at SMU,” said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. “It took courage to break the color barrier at SMU, and we see his legacy in the diversity of our student body today. He carried that courage with him throughout a life of advocacy, possessing the rare ability to turn passion into action to better the lives of marginalized individuals.”
Williams had been pastor at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco since 1963. With his late wife, Williams created a haven at Glide Church for those suffering from poverty and homelessness, transforming it to become one of the largest churches in the country and a passionate and powerful voice for the poor and outcast.
Under Williams’ 60 years of leadership, Glide helped the hungry and homeless, those battling drug addiction and people suffering from AIDS. The church is one of few that serve the homeless three meals a day, 365 days a year.
left to right, James Arthur Hawkins, John Wesley Elliott, Negail Rudolph Riley, Allen Cecil Williams, and James Vernon Lyles.
At SMU, Williams received the Perkins School of Theology Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1996 and was recognized with an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in 1997. He received the SMU Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2009, at which time the Williams Preaching Lab in Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Hall was named in his honor.
The five men who integrated SMU, known as the “Perkins Five,” were honored together in 2015 on the 50th anniversary of their 1955 graduation. Williams, James Arthur Hawkins, John Wesley Elliott, Negail Rudolph Riley and James Vernon Lyles were honored for their barrier-breaking contributions.
Although Williams served in San Francisco, he continued to influence students at Perkins and SMU. Multiple student groups served at Glide during alternative spring break trips. Today, Perkins theology students perfect their preaching skills in the Williams Preaching Lab on the Perkins Theology campus.