Uncrowned Community Builders

Ossian Williams was the son of a pioneer African American family that settled in Grand Island, New York in the late 1800s. He graduated from School 9 in Grand Island. In 1936 he graduated from Seneca Vocational High School where he earned honors as a football player. He attended Buffalo State College and worked at American Brass and the State Labor Department. He was a community activist, who helped numerous people involved in racial and employment problems. He worked also for the Head Start program and he joined the Erie County clerk's office for support services, a senior citizen program. Mr. Williams was 80 years old at the time of his death on January 15, 1998. He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery.