E. Winston and Ina D. Williams NAACP Papers

Materials from the Southside Chicago Branch NAACP chapter along with state and national NAACP organization materials. E. Winston Williams served as president of the Southside Chicago Branch from 1971 to 1974, when it had over 30,000 members. Includes Chicago event planning, meeting minutes, membership information, state and national convention materials, and other NAACP ephemera.

Event materials, primarily from the annual Fighting Fund for Freedom Dinner and the Women’s Auxiliary Chicago Southside Branch Anniversary teas. Includes programs and program books, invitations, and planning materials. The anniversary tea program books contain hundreds of advertisements and tributes from black-owned businesses and other prominent Chicago area African Americans.

See also scrapbooks for related event items including clippings, photographs, and guest lists.

Materials from activities and organizations other than the NAACP and personal items. Includes labor union materials, newspaper clippings, correspondence, awards, and programs. Also includes a few NAACP related materials, particularly in the clippings and awards.

One item of interest is a promotional brochure for Black Pride Beer of Chicago. E. Winston Williams served as treasurer of Black Pride, Inc., producers of the beer, and the advertisement includes a picture of members of the company. Also of interest are letters from family relative (possibly nephew) Emile W. Williams to Ina “Dottie” and “Big Winston” Williams. The letters discuss Emile’s time serving in the Navy during the Vietnam War, stationed at Cam Ranh Bay Naval Air Facility. The three short letters are melancholy in tone, and provide a firsthand perspective of the war.

Photographs of various functions, events, and celebratory gatherings from Williams’s life in Chicago. Many are group photographs, although people are largely unidentified. Earlier photographs appear to show meetings of mostly African American businessmen as well as a gala for the Links, Inc. organization. One unidentified photograph has the stamp of H.S. Rhoden, whose press service was the first African American owned press service approved by the Chicago Police Advisory Committee. Another was taken by Sydney Harris, a well-known Chicago photographer and activist. Many more images are stamped Burke & Dean.

See also scrapbooks for additional photographs.

Four scrapbooks, two of which are disbound from three-ring binders. All four scrapbooks focus on E. Winston Williams’s time as president of the Southside Chicago Branch of the NAACP.

The scrapbook covering 1957-1979 has clippings and photographs that document Williams’s participation in various organizations and unions. Includes a copy of Williams’s Southside Chicago Branch NAACP presidential election speech, business cards and letterhead of his labor union affiliations, and a few personal items.

The Fighting Fund for Freedom scrapbook mostly covers the 1972 and 1973 dinners. The clippings and photographs show Williams with various dignitaries at the dinners, including Roy Wilkins speaking from the podium. Includes some personal photographs and cards at the end.

The oversize scrapbooks document various events of the Southside Chicago NAACP chapter during Williams’s tenure as president with photographs, invitations, handbills, memoranda, clippings, and more. Includes a few issues of the chapter’s newsletter, cards, letters, Women’s Auxiliary Anniversary tea materials, and typescript speeches.