Acquittal of Hosea Williams for Indigent Charge

Press Release
July 23, 1968

Acquittal of Hosea Williams for Indigent Charge preview

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  • Press Releases, Volume 5. Acquittal of Hosea Williams for Indigent Charge, 1968. 9b2589d2-b892-ee11-be37-6045bddb811f. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/d8d513b7-946d-401b-af72-b7ebc8989b81/acquittal-of-hosea-williams-for-indigent-charge. Accessed May 18, 2025.

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    July 23, 1968 

WASH INGTON-~-Hosea Williams, prominent Southern Christian Leadership 
Conference (SCLC) member and former city manager of Resurrection City, 
has been acquitted here today of two federal charges--unlawful assem- 
bly and being in a public park without a permit. 

Mr. Williams was defended by NAACP Legal Défense and Educational 
Fund, Inc. (LDF) staff attorney Haywood Burns and Howard University 
law professor Paul Miller who was chief counsel in the case. 

The charges placed against Williams grew out of the government's 
refusal to renew the permit for use of the park where some 3000 of 
the nation's poor erected their symbolic Resurrection City. 

Notice of eviction came on iJune 23, and Mr. Williams was placed 
under arrest the following day. 

Attorneys Miller and Burns argued that this was not enough time 
for the "citizens" of the city to disperse, and it was this argument 
which won Williams acquittal today. 

The Court of General Sessions ruled that the original permit 
and accompanying letters were not clear on the expiration date for 
the Boor People's Campaign and thereby acquitted Williams. 

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