Independent Lens

Season 7

Episode 13: Negroes With Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power

A powerful profile of civil-rights activist Robert F. Williams, author of “Negroes with Guns,” who challenged the concept of nonviolent protest through such acts as arming himself against the KKK. The film examines his struggle through archival news footage of his speeches and interviews with those who worked with him. Williams' widow, Mabel, recalls that her husband took up the cause even though he originally “never wanted to be a leader.”