B.T. Williams House

Front: This brick-veneered hosue was the home of Dr. Booker Taliaferro Williams, dentist and civil rights activist. Born 1900 in Elloree, S.C., he obtained his Doctor of Dental Surgery from Meharry Medical College in 1929. Within a few years he came to Sumter and opened his own dental practice, working until his death. This house was built by his brothers c.1939. Williams lived here with his wife Catherine Fredrick Williams, who was a teacher at Lincoln High School, and their daughter. Reverse: Williams became active in a number of causes in support of African American. He was a co-founder of the Sumter NAACP in 1939. He was later treasurer and first vice president of the NAACP State Conference and helped raise funds for its teacher pay equalization campaign and the Briggs v. Elliott school desegregation case. He was also co-plaintiff in a lawsuit that desegregated the Sumter public library in 1963. Dr. B.T. Williams died 1971 and is buried at Hillside Memorial Park.