One documentation from a 1939 Monroe newspaper reported a Ku Klux Klan rally with a potential 5,000 attending members.
[1] Eventually, after years of activism, Williams and his family were exiled to Havana, Cuba, after heated disputes with the government.
[3] When local law enforcement was alerted about this, they wrongfully charged Williams with kidnapping the family, even though he was only trying to shelter them from violence.
In fact, Fidel Castro not only granted Williams permission to seek shelter in Cuba, but also allowed him to broadcast his revolutionary radio program.
[4] Radio Free Dixie broadcast soul music, including tunes like Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man" and Nina Simone's "Mississippi Goddam," news, and commentary from Havana.
"[1] Newer jazz music was though of extremely motivating and mobilizing to those who listened, and Williams wanted his audience to rise up against white supremacy.
Williams would strategically play specific types of music while news on voter registration or other political issues were being reported on.
It was the kind of school of thought that would most likely not have been broadcast from the United States with Williams often advocating for radical ideals like a militant community saying things like, "If we are ever going to be free, we must liberate ourselves.
[7]" Bootleg tapes of the program circulated throughout the United States, and recordings of Radio Free Dixie were also aired on WBAI in New York City and KPFA in Berkeley, California.