Bob Williams guraded Dr. King during the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Guardian of a King
By Jonathan Gramling

    There have been many foot soldiers in the modern civil
rights movement who have gone unrecognized. While figures
like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave invaluable leadership and focus to the
movement, there were also others who helped facilitate their efforts and often
paid a heavy price for their involvement.
    One of those figures was Bob Williams, one of King’s primary bodyguards
during the Montgomery Bus Boycott and a long-time friend of Dr. King’s. Williams,
who died in 1990, was also the grandfather of Madison resident Annetta Wright. Her
grandmother, Louise Williams, also got to meet King and talk to him on several
occasions.
    Bob Williams, born in rural Alabama, served in the U.S. military during
World War II and attended Morehouse College in Atlanta. Williams was musically
gifted and studied music at Morehouse. He also became involved at Ebenezer
Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King Sr. was pastor. Young Martin was
in high school at the time.
    “My husband comes from a line of musicians and ministers,” Louise Williams
said during a telephone interview with The Capital City Hues. “Dr. King was into
music and the ministry. I think he met him through Dr. King’s father, Daddy King,
at Ebenezer Baptist Church. They just grew to be friends because they had
the music in common before the civil rights movement.”
    After two years in high school Martin Luther King enrolled at Morehouse College and Williams and King
continued their friendship.
    Williams graduated from Morehouse and continued his studies at the Julliard School of Music in New York.
King went to Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania before studying for his Ph.D. in systematic theology
(Clockwise form upper left) The King family
kept in contact with Bob Williams both before
and after Dr. King's assassination in 1968;
Bob Williams escorted Coretta Scott King and
the King children to view Dr. King's body in
state in Atlanta; Williams comforts a young man.
at Boston University. Williams and King kept up their friendship while both of them remained in the Northeast. Eventually, Williams went on to Detroit for a
summer internship before he taught at Texas Southern, a historically Black college for a year before landing a job as a professor of Music at Alabama State
University in Montgomery, Alabama where he became involved with the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.
    When King came to Montgomery to interview for the pastorship at Montgomery, he looked up his old friend Bob Williams. Williams gave King the inside info
about Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and the Black organizations in Montgomery, Williams stated in his unpublished memoir “Mike” about his relationship with
King. King gave a sermon at Dexter titled “The Three Dimensions of a Good Life,” and the deal was sealed between King and Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.
Relatively soon after King moved to Montgomery with his wife Coretta, their home was burglarized. “After this incident, I lived in the house each time they
had to go out of town or when Coretta was there alone,” Williams said in his memoir.
    When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus on December 1, 1955 and the Black community began to boycott the buses, the
young pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was selected as the president of the newly formed Montgomery Improvement
Association and was thrust on the national stage of the civil rights movement. Bob Williams was at his side. “He acted as Dr. King’s bodyguard,” Louise
Williams said. “When my husband was at Alabama State, he would sometimes drive at night. They did most of their traveling at night because if the cops
saw him or anyone who was a friend of Dr. King’s, they would arrest him. You know, it was a terrible time. Most of the time, when Dr. King went different
places, my husband drove for him. Dr. King was not a good driver. That’s what my husband said. I never saw Dr. King drive. When I met him, things had
developed to the point where Dr. King didn’t have to drive. Most of the time, he was talking or getting ready to speak. My husband was basically working during
the day and with the movement at night. He was a part of it because that was something he was interested in. And Dr. King was a close friend of his. They
just kind of depended on each other and leaned on each other. It was scary and dangerous to drive around.”
    The relationship continued throughout the Montgomery Bus Boycott. when King's house was bombed in the middle of the boycott, Willliams stayed on the
king's residence at night. While he first snuck a shotgun into the house for protection, King eventually banned guns from the house in the spirit of nonviolence.
Williams remained camped out at their residence for the remainder of the boycott. After the boycott successfully ended in 1956, Williams continued to escort
King and act as his bodyguard. Williams put his life on hold. “He wanted to be a concert artist,” Loise said about her husband. “But he wasn’t able to because he
started working with Dr. King and the civil rights movement. So he never got the chance to do the big concerts that he wanted to do.”After the boycott
successfully ended in 1956, Williams continued to escort King and act as his bodyguard. Williams put his life on hold. “He wanted to be a concert artist,” Loise
said about her husband. “But he wasn’t able to because he started working with Dr. King and the civil rights movement. So he never got the chance to do the big
concerts that he wanted to do.”
    In 1959, King left Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and moved to Atlanta where he eventually co-pastored Ebenezer Baptist Church with his father. While King
was present in Montgomery, his national prominence protected him and those who were closely associated with him. With King gone from the scene, some of
his associates faced reprisals. Williams and others who had been involved with the Montgomery Improvement Association were fired from Alabama State
University. Some felt the firings were ordered by Alabama Governor John Patterson. Williams and some of the others found refuge at Grambling State University
in Louisiana.
“      When they got here, our president at that time was Dr. Jones,” Louise Williams said. “He talked to them and told them that he knew that Bob and Dr.
King were friends. But he said that if any meetings were held at Grambling and the board questioned it, he was going to be the first person they were going to
fire. Bob knew that. But he still knew that if Dr. King called him, he was going.”
    It was shortly after he arrived at Grambling to become the school’s choir director that he met his future wife Louise. “We met in 1960 and we got married in
1970,’ Williams said. “We were very close friends, but I had two children and he didn’t have any children. I had my children and my grandchildren. He was a
father and a grandfather to them. Annetta didn’t know for a long time that he wasn’t her biological grandfather. She always thought of him as her grandfather and
loved him so much. She felt sorry from some of her little friends because they didn’t have a grandpa. My husband was into music and Annetta loved music. He
was very good with children.”
    And due to the distance, Williams wasn’t as directly involved in the civil rights movement as he had been. “When my husband moved to Grambling, he
wasn’t as active as he was when he was there,” Williams said. “It was too far. They kept close by telephone. They kept in touch with each other.”
    When King came to Louisiana, Williams and he would get together. And Louise met King several times. “It was awesome meeting Dr. King,” Louise said.
“I don’t know how to describe it. I don’t know what it is, but he has an electrifying voice. He had charm and charisma. He had it all. And he was very easy to
talk to. He was very easy to approach. He was not a saint. He didn’t seem like the kind of person of that magnitude. He had been associated with kings and
queens. I had never met anyone of his caliber. He was a wonderful, down-to-earth person. He loved children. And when he had children, he would just play with
them. He was like a kid playing with other kids. He was a playful, very lovable person. He had a very good sense of humor. He would always find something to
tease you with. If he knew something that you were a little sensitive about, to keep the conversation going, he would tease in a loving way. You wouldn’t think
that a person of his caliber would have that kind of humor. I never thought he would be so easy to talk to and approach.”
    On the day before King was assassinated in Memphis, he called Bob Williams. “He called the house to speak to Bob,” Louise said. “Bob was in choir
rehearsal. We had a party line. We lived about four blocks from the campus. I sent one of my children to Bob to let him know that Dr. King was trying to reach
him. As soon as Bob got the message, he tried to call Dr. King back, but he couldn’t get him. Dr. King had left the place from where he had called. I talked to
him the day before he died. He was jovial. He asked where Bob was. I told him he was at rehearsal. And he said ‘I just called. I wanted to talk to him. Tell
him to give me a call.’”
    Bob Williams never got over King’s death and the fact that he wasn’t able to reach him after King had called. “Bob didn’t know what he wanted to tell him,”
Louise said. “We came to the conclusion that Dr. King knew that was his final hour, that he would probably not get out of Memphis. They were very close. They
were like brothers. It was totally devastating to him to hear the next day that he had been assassinated.”
    Bob Williams immediately left Grambling and headed for Atlanta. He stayed with Coretta and the kids until several days after Dr. King’s funeral. “He was the
person standing by the coffin with Coretta and the children,” Louise said. “My husband sang at his funeral. He sang one of his favorite songs, ‘Witness.’ Bob said
that was the hardest thing he had ever done, sing at his funeral. He had written some songs and dedicated them to Dr. King. Another song that he wrote and
dedicated to him was ‘Lord, I Can’t Turn Back.’”
    Until his death in 1990, the Williams stayed in touch with Coretta and the kids. “When Coretta called him, he would go,” Louise said. “If she needed an escort
to some affair, he would be there. He went as often as he could. Coretta and Bob had music in common. They kind of worked together.”

Next issue: Excerpts from Bob Williams’ unpublished manuscript “Mike”