Romeo Marcus Williams (June 4, 1919 – August 16, 1960) was an American civil rights attorney who organized large-scale student protests against segregation in Marshall, Texas.
He was also a junior partner of Dallas, Texas civil rights attorney, William J. Durham, who served as lead counsel on two landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases, Sweatt v. Painter (with famed civil rights attorneys Robert L. Carter and future U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall), and Smith v.
[3] Though he briefly worked at his family's funeral business after graduating from Bishop College, Williams set his sights on becoming a fighter pilot after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
On December 13, 1942, he graduated as a member of the Single Engine Section Cadet Class SE-42-K, receiving his wings and commission as a 2nd Lieutenant.
[6] Nonetheless, Williams moved to St. Louis, Missouri to attend the now-defunct Lincoln University School of Law, graduating with a juris doctor on June 6, 1949.
[3] Soon after, Williams became a junior partner at the Dallas, Texas law firm of William J. Durham, a prominent civil rights attorney who served as co-lead counsel on two landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases, Sweatt v. Painter (with famed civil rights attorneys Robert L. Carter and future U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall), and Smith v.
[1] As a result of these Williams and his fellow attorneys' activism and legal prowess, the NAACP, in the early 1950s, located its southwest regional office to Dallas.
[1] In 1956, Williams moved back to Marshall, Texas to establish his own civil rights law practice next door to his family's funeral home.
[3] On August 16, 1960, Williams defended students in Marshall, Texas who were arrested while participating in civil rights sit-ins and demonstrations.