W. Hazaiah Williams papers

1952-1998

William Hazaiah Williams, Jr., was an African American minister and educator. He received a Master of Theology from Boston University, and moved to California in the mid-1950s to accept a position at the South Berkeley Community Church, where he was ordained. In 1956, Williams founded the Church for Today, an interdenominational community church in Berkeley, where he was the pastor until his death. In 1969, he formed the Center for Urban-Black Studies at the Graduate Theological Union, also in Berkeley, where he was a professor for 20 years. Concentrating on liberation theology, Williams created and taught theology courses at the Center.

During the 1970s, Williams founded the Alamo Black Clergy, a San Francisco East Bay consortium of ministers of various denominations, and served as executive director of the East Bay Conference on Race, Religion and Social Justice. He was also a commentator on Dialogue, a radio program on KPFA-FM, where he dealt with social issues relevant to the community. His community work included 8 years of service on the Berkeley Board of Education, 1967-1974, during the period in which the Berkeley schools were integrated.

W. Hazaiah Williams was also the first major African American presenter of classical music in the United States. He was dedicated to the racial and cultural integration and expansion of the classical music audience and of the concert stage; he was founder and director for 35 years of the major recital series, Today's Artists Concerts. Dr. Williams presented a series of concerts in New York's Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall. In 1993, he created Four Seasons Concerts, for which he served as President and Artistic Director until his death.