Elisabeth Williams-Omilami (born February 18, 1951) is an American human rights activist and an actress.

Life and career

Born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Williams-Omilami is the daughter of activist

Hosea Williams Hosea Lorenzo Williams (January 5, 1926 – November 16, 2000) was an American civil rights leader, activist, ordained minister, businessman, philanthropist, scientist, and politician. He is best known as a trusted member of fellow famed civil ri ...

and Georgia State Representative Juanita T. Williams. Williams-Omilami young life was spent with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. After graduating from college, she created the People's Survival Theatre, producing a season of five shows per year. People's Survival Theatre continued to produce shows long after Williams-Omilami's journey to New York City when her husband

Afemo Omilami Afemo Omilami (born December 13, 1950) is an American actor. Early life Omilami was born in Petersburg, Virginia on December 13, 1950. Afemo has not made any public reference to his paternal background, however his name has ties to the Yoruba co ...

received a scholarship to

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. In New York, Williams-Omilami worked as an arts administrator and executive assistant. Williams-Omilami directed and acted as much as she could, supporting her family as her husband's career grew. In 1985, Williams-Omilami left New York to return to Atlanta. While in Atlanta Williams-Omilami continued to perform on stage and in film and television. Williams-Omilami graduated from

Hampton University Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missionary Association af ...

with a BA in Theatre.

Activism

Williams-Omilami's parents brought her along on Civil Rights marches and movements across the South since she was young. During the height of the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

, Williams-Omilami attended boarding school to

Wasatch Academy Wasatch Academy is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory boarding school for grades 7-12 located in Mount Pleasant, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by Reverend Duncan McMillan, a Presbyterian minister who had come to ...

in Utah where she was the only African-American student. Williams-Omilami had worked for over 15 years in the background of her father's Hosea Feed The Hungry and Homeless efforts, and upon his passing in November 2000 became the organization's CEO, expanding the organization from a budget of $200,000 to over $1.5 million. Williams-Omilami worked to provide programs that would meet the basic needs of the working poor and homeless along a continuum of care leading to self-sufficiency. Williams-Omilami expanded these programs from four months to year-round services and established medical clinics, clothing distribution, barber and beautician services, children's educational programs, and home delivery of over 22,000 dinners per year. Williams-Omilami has spoken and toured worldwide for several international relief efforts in places like the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, where she has founded and operates a school for the underprivileged children of Mindanou, and

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

and

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

, where she sponsors several orphanages. Williams-Omilami has been acknowledged many times for her humanitarian service. Honorary membership induction into

Zeta Phi Beta Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. In 1920, five women from Howard University envisioned a sorority that would raise the consciousness of their people, encourage the highest standards of scholastic achie ...

sorority, A

Georgia State Senate The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Legal provisions The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, with the lower house being the Georgia ...

Resolution in recognition of her

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...

, Atlanta Business League 100 Women of Influence, For Sisters Only, Women In Film Humanitarian Award,

Secretary of State of Georgia The Secretary of State of the U.S. state of Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public records. The office has had a four-year term since 1946. Before 1880, the ...

Outstanding Citizen, State of Georgia

Goodwill Ambassador Goodwill ambassador is a post-nominal honorific title, a professional occupation and/or authoritative designation that is assigned to a person who advocates for a specific cause or global issue on the basis of their notability such as a public ...

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

Women of Achievement Academy,

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

Urban Everyday Heroes, Kraft Community Service;

Southern Christian Leadership Conference The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civi ...

Women Drum Major for Justice,

T. D. Jakes Thomas Dexter Jakes (born June 9, 1957), known as T. D. Jakes, is an American bishop, author and filmmaker. He is the bishop of The Potter's House, a non-denominational American megachurch. Jakes's church services and Evangelistic sermons are ...

Phenomenal Woman, Daughters of Isis Community Service Award, the

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

M.L.K. Community Service Award and The

National Conference of Black Mayors The National Conference of Black Mayors (NCBM) was incorporated in 1974 and was originally organized as the Southern Conference of Black Mayors (SCBM) forty years ago. The thirteen mayors who founded the group were elected after the enactment o ...

Fannie Lou Hamer Fannie Lou Hamer (; Townsend; October 6, 1917 – March 14, 1977) was an American voting rights, voting and women's rights activist, Community organizing, community organizer, and a leader in the civil rights movement. She was the co-foun ...

Unsung Heroine Award.

Theatre and film

Williams-Omilami founded of one of Atlanta's earliest theatre companies People's Survival Theater, as well as the "Summer Artscamp", providing arts programming for economically challenged youth for over 7 years. Williams-Omilami is a

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

has written several plays, one of which is ''There Is A River In My Soul''. She is a past member of both the ''Georgia Council For The Arts'' and the ''Fulton County Arts Council'' and is a passionate advocate for the arts to be instituted as permanent part of society. She is an actress and has performed at the

Alliance Theatre The Alliance Theatre is a theater company in Atlanta, Georgia, based at the Alliance Theatre, part of the Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center, and is the winner of the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award. The company, originally the Atlanta Municipal T ...

in ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...

'' and in early 2002 in ''Left Hand Singing'' at the ''Jewish Theatre of The South''. She can also be seen in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

made-for-television movie ''Boycott'', '' In the Heat of the Night'' and the award-winning ''

I'll Fly Away "I'll Fly Away" is a hymn written in 1929 by Albert E. Brumley and published in 1932 by the Hartford Music company in a collection titled ''Wonderful Message''.Richard Matteson, Jr.''The Bluegrass Picker's Tune Book'' Mel Bay Publications, 2006 ...

''.

References

External links

*Atlanta Women's Network. (2006). About Elisabeth Omilami. Retrieved 2007-06-12 from https://web.archive.org/web/20060622074632/http://www.atlantawomensnetwork.org/Speakers/06JulyElisabethOmilami.html *
Official Website of Hosea Feed The Hungry and Homeless
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omilami, Elizabeth 1951 births African-American actresses Activists for African-American civil rights 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American film actresses American humanitarians Women humanitarians American stage actresses American television actresses Living people Actresses from Atlanta 21st-century American actresses 20th-century American actresses Women civil rights activists 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people