Cleophas Williams, 93, of Oakland, California, passed away peacefully on June 24, 2016. He was born June 12, 1923, to John Henry and Bertha Williams in Camden, Arkansas. He attended Booker T. Washington High School in Texarkana, Arkansas, and college in Pine Bluff. After school in 1942, Cleophas joined the army where he was granted an honorable discharge.Cleophas Williams, ILWU Local 10
In 1944, after his move to California, he was hired at the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). He attended
Labor-Management School at the University of San Francisco. After 24 years with the union he became involved in union politics, and by 1967 he became the first African-American president of ILWU on the West Coast for Local 10 (San Francisco). Williams would eventually serve as president for four terms. In 1980, he was the chairman of a union delegation to the Peoples Republic of China. He can be seen at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., under “Labor.”
