MACON – Dr. William D. Anderson, president of the Albany Movement, a coalition of activists including Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Ralph David Abernathy who campaigned for an end to segregation in Albany, was recently a guest speaker for the U.S. presentation of the Legal offices for Black History Month in the Middle District of Georgia took place virtually.
Anderson was elected President of the Albany Movement in 1961. In 1963, Anderson was charged with conspiracy to injure a juror along with other Albany Movement leaders. These allegations came from a 1963 Albany grocer picket line who was serving as a juror on a case where the sheriff was acquitted of the murder of a black man. Albany leaders claimed they would paint the shop because black employees weren’t promoted, but the owner believed it was retaliation. The case led to a lawsuit.
Anderson was later brought before a federal judge in Detroit, where he lived and served as a practicing doctor and surgeon.
“The judge stated that I was under forced labor in a federal prison for 20 years,” said Anderson. “But then he took a deep breath and said,” Yes. “And what followed was to suspend that sentence and put me on parole. It was death and resurrection. Death – when he announced I had been in federal prison for 20 years. Resurrection – when he put me on parole. So it ended I was never recalled and never had to be in federal prison one day.
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“You can’t always argue with fate. I was proud to be part of (the Albany Movement). “
“DR. Anderson embodies leadership and a commitment to justice and has been wrongly prosecuted by this office for his role in the Albany Civil Rights Movement,” said acting US attorney Peter D. Leary. “There’s the law, and then the right thing . In an ideal world, these two principles are in agreement. However, they do not always line up, as is the case with Dr. Anderson. Our office should never have prosecuted this great man. We are eternally grateful to Dr. Anderson he shared his life story with our office and dedicated his life to serving civil rights for all. “
Anderson was presented with a certificate of “courage, leadership, and commitment to justice” from the US Attorney’s Office. Anderson continues to be a pioneering figure in the struggle for American civil rights and was instrumental in creating the “Slavery to Freedom: An American Odyssey” lecture series at Michigan State University.
The civil rights icon, a retired osteopathic physician, was the first black surgeon in Detroit and the first black president of the American Osteopathic Association. The 93-year-old lives in Michigan.
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