Elisabeth Omilami

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Elisabeth Williams-Omilami
Elisabeth Olimali 2011-01-19.JPG
Williams-Omilami, 2011.
Born
Elisabeth Williams

(1952-02-18) February 18, 1952 (age 72) [1]
Other names
  • Elisabeth Omilami
  • Elizabeth Omilami
  • Elisabeth Williams-Omilami
Occupations
  • Activist
  • actress
Organization(s)Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless (Director)
Spouse
(m. 1985)
Children2
Parent(s) Hosea Williams
Juanita Terry Williams
FamilyYolanda E Favours (Daughter) Porsha Williams (Niece)

Elisabeth Williams-Omilami (born February 18, 1952) is an American human rights activist and an actress.

Contents

Life and career

Born in Atlanta, Williams-Omilami is the daughter of activist Hosea Williams and Georgia State Representative Juanita T. Williams. Williams-Omilami young life was spent with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. [2] After graduating from college, she created the People's Survival Theatre, producing a season of five shows per year.[ citation needed ] People's Survival Theatre continued to produce shows long after Williams-Omilami's journey to New York City when her husband Afemo Omilami received a scholarship to New York University. In New York, Williams-Omilami worked as an arts administrator and executive assistant.[ where? ] 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.[ citation needed ] While in Atlanta Williams-Omilami continued to perform on stage and in film and television.[ citation needed ] Williams-Omilami graduated from Hampton University with a BA in Theatre. [1]

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, Williams-Omilami attended boarding school to Wasatch Academy in Utah where she was the only African-American student.[ citation needed ] Williams-Omilami had worked for over 15 years in the background of her father's Hosea Feed The Hungry and Homeless efforts, [3] [1] 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.[ citation needed ] 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.[ citation needed ] Williams-Omilami has spoken and toured worldwide for several international relief efforts in places like the Philippines, where she has founded and operates a school for the underprivileged children of Mindanou,[ citation needed ] and Haiti and Uganda, where she sponsors several orphanages.[ citation needed ]

Williams-Omilami has been acknowledged many times for her humanitarian service.[ citation needed ] Honorary membership induction into Zeta Phi Beta sorority, [4] A Georgia State Senate Resolution in recognition of her community service,[ citation needed ] Atlanta Business League 100 Women of Influence,[ citation needed ] For Sisters Only,[ citation needed ] Women In Film Humanitarian Award,[ citation needed ] Secretary of State of Georgia Outstanding Citizen,[ citation needed ] State of Georgia Goodwill Ambassador,[ citation needed ] YWCA Women of Achievement Academy,[ citation needed ] Burger King Urban Everyday Heroes,[ citation needed ] Kraft Community Service;[ citation needed ] Southern Christian Leadership Conference Women Drum Major for Justice,[ citation needed ] T. D. Jakes Phenomenal Woman,[ citation needed ] Daughters of Isis Community Service Award,[ citation needed ] the Emory University M.L.K. Community Service Award[ citation needed ] and The National Conference of Black Mayors Fannie Lou Hamer Unsung Heroine Award.[ citation needed ]

Theatre and film

Williams-Omilami founded of one of Atlanta's earliest theatre companies People's Survival Theater, [1] as well as the "Summer Artscamp", providing arts programming for economically challenged youth for over 7 years.[ citation needed ] Williams-Omilami is a playwright has written several plays, one of which is There Is A River In My Soul. [1] She is a past member of both the Georgia Council For The Arts [1] and the Fulton County Arts Council [1] and is a passionate advocate for the arts to be instituted as permanent part of society.[ citation needed ] She is an actress and has performed at the Alliance Theatre in A Christmas Carol and in early 2002 in Left Hand Singing at the Jewish Theatre of The South.[ citation needed ] She can also be seen in the HBO made-for-television movie Boycott, [1] In the Heat of the Night [ citation needed ] and the award-winning I'll Fly Away . [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Bob McCann (2007). Encyclopedia of African American Actresses in Film and Television. McFarland. ISBN   9780786458042 . Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  2. "First Kingdom Management". bk.streamingfreehosting2.com. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  3. "Hosea Feed The Hungry".
  4. "Zeta Phi Beta 1920".