Harvey Dean Williams Sr. (July 30, 1930 – August 7, 2020)[1] was a United States Army major general.

He was the first African-American post commander of Fort Myer,[2] and was the Deputy Inspector General of the U.S. Army in 1980.

[6][1] He grew up in Durham, North Carolina,[7][8] and attended Hillside High School (graduating in the class of 1946).

[6] As an Army officer, then-Captain Williams served as a member of the military staff and faculty (within the Artillery department)[12] at Cornell University from 1957 to 1959, an early pioneer of black Army officers becoming instructors at Ivy League universities.

This incident—and Williams' activism—made headlines internationally, reported on in magazines like Jet,[18] and in cities across the United States, West Germany, and Portugal.

[19] The incident led Augsburg mayor Hans Breuer to change and amend policies to end these practices of discrimination in the treatment of American GIs.

[10] On August 31, 1996, Williams was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, an honor given for extraordinary service to the state of North Carolina, by Governor James B.

Williams died at the age of 90, at home in Maryland on August 7, 2020, due to Parkinson's disease.