Kale Williams papers

Descriptive Summary

Repository: Chicago History Museum

Research Center

1601 North Clark Street

Chicago, IL 60614-6038
Creator: Kale Williams, Chicago Freedom Movement, Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities, American Friends Service Committee. Midwest Regional Office
Bib number: 00074607
Title: Kale Williams papers
Dates: 1950-2008
Predominant Dates: 1964-1995
Quantity: 6.5 linear feet (15 boxes)
Call number: MSS Lot W
Language: English

Restriction(s)

This collection is open for research use.

Terms governing use

Copyright may be retained by the creators of items, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law, unless otherwise noted.

Provenance statement

Materials were a gift of Kale and Helen Williams (accession #: 2013.10.1 and 2014.16.1).

Please cite this collection as

Kale Williams papers (Chicago History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific item.

Collection Summary

Reports, publications, correspondence, memoranda, briefings, research materials, and newspaper clippings comprising the papers of Kale Williams, former director of the Midwest Office of the American Friends Service Committee and the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities. In 1951, he began his career with the American Friends Service Committee. Williams also worked as a part of the Chicago Freedom Movement with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and starting in 1972 he was the executive director of the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities.

Biographical/historical note

Kale Williams was born in 1925 in Cedar Vale, Kansas. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. His experiences in war had a direct impact on his embrace of pacifism. In 1951, he began work with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker service organization based in Chicago (Ill.). In 1958, he became the head of the Midwest office of the AFSC. The AFSC was heavily involved in the Chicago Freedom Movement, also referred to as the Chicago Open Housing Movement, and Williams worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during that time. From 1968 to 1970, Williams led an international Quaker team providing food and medical services to both Nigeria and Biafra during their civil war. In 1972, he became the executive director of the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities (LCMOC), the fair housing organization that was a direct outgrowth of the Chicago Freedom Movement. The LCMOC worked with investigators and lawyers on housing discrimination issues in Chicago. In 1994, Williams was invited to Loyola University Chicago as Visiting Professor of Applied Ethics. In 1996, he was appointed Senior Scholar in the Center for Urban Research and Learning at Loyola and held that position until 2011.

Related material

Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include materials by and about the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities, the American Friends Service Committee, the Alliance to End Repression, and the Illinois Council to Repeal the Draft, cataloged separately.

Other Finding Aids

Finding aid also submitted to the Explore Chicago Collections portal.

Indexed Terms

Organization and Arrangement of Collection

The collection is arranged in five series with subsequent subseries by topic.

Series 1. American Friends Service Committee files, circa 1950-1993 (box 1-4)

Present in this series are materials from the 1966 Chicago Freedom Movement in which the Chicago branch of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) was involved. The materials include reports, statements, and briefings given by Kale Williams to the AFSC regarding equal housing and civil rights. Materials also include the Institutional Service Units of the AFSC, which aided students pursuing careers in the social sciences.

Series 2. Chicago public housing files, 1966-2008 (box 4-10)

This series consists of material related to involvement and interest in Chicago public housing and contains three sub-series.

Subseries 1. Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities files, 1975-2005 (box 4-6)

Materials from Williams' work as director of the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities (LCMOC) from 1972 to 1992 and materials while he remained active with the organization after his retirement. Topics are LCMOC's fight for fair housing policies in Chicago, most notably as a part of the Supreme Court case Hills v. Gautreaux. Documents include reports and studies about housing inequality conducted by the LCMOC, writings about Chicago housing, newspaper clippings about the LCMOC, and correspondence.

Subseries 2. Dialogue Group files, 1994-2003 (box 6-7)

The Dialogue Group worked to provide support for residents who had to be relocated during the Plan for Transformation of the Chicago Housing Authority which included the demolition of many high-rise public housing buildings. Materials include reports, consulting agreements, programs, and informational packets.

Subseries 3. Housing Mobility Conference files, 1987-1998 (box 7-10)

In 1994, Williams helped conduct the first national Housing Mobility Conference. Included are handwritten and typed notes by Williams, correspondence, and publications concerned with public housing and the conference.

Series 3. Chicago Freedom Movement files, 1966-2006 (box 11-14)

This series contains materials from the 1966 Chicago Freedom Movement led by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Al Raby to end racial segregation in Chicago. Williams was a member of the Chicago Freedom Movement Agenda Committee and this series includes programs and statements on the unfair housing market, the poor conditions of lower income housing, and other social and economic issues in Chicago. Also included in this series are materials pertaining to the Fulfilling the Dream 40th Anniversary Commemoration Conference of the Chicago Freedom Movement.

Series 4. Personal papers, 1959-2004 (box 15)

This series contains materials such as biographical sketches and newspaper clippings about Kale Williams. It also includes speeches and addresses, primarily on social issues, given by Williams from 1968-2004; fact sheets, court transcripts and exhibits from two class action suits, the Alliance to End Repression v. James Rochford, and the American Civil Liberties Union v. the City of Chicago, in which the Chicago Police Department's "red squad" was accused of spying on hundreds of thousands of private citizens and organizations, of which Williams was a plaintiff.

Series 5. Subject files, 1964-1996 (box 15)

This series is comprised of material collected by Williams such as reports, articles, and various newsletters. Most of the documents relate to Williams' interest in civil rights and public housing.

Detailed list of contents of the collection

Series 1. American Friends Service Committee files

1950-1993

Box 1-4

Title: American Friends Service Committee files
Dates: 1950-1993

Series 2. Chicago public housing files

1966-2008

Subseries 1. Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities files

1975-2005

Box 4-6

Title: Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities files

Subseries 2. Dialogue Group files

1994-2003

Box 6-7

Title: Dialogue Group files

Subseries 3. Housing Mobility Conference files

1987-1998

Box 7-10

Title: Housing Mobility Conference files

Series 3. Chicago Freedom Movement files

1966-2006

Box 11-14

Title: Chicago Freedom Movement files
Dates: 1966-2006

Series 4. Personal papers

1959-2004

Box 15

Title: Personal papers
Dates: 1959-2004

Series 5. Subject files

1964-1996