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Biography · History & Culture

David W. Williams

1910–2000

United States

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Biography

David Welford Williams (March 20, 1910 – May 6, 2000) was an American attorney and United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, the first African-American federal judge west of the Mississippi. He is best known for his work in the abolition of restrictive covenants and for overseeing 4,000 criminal cases that stemmed from the 1965 Watts riots.

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Black heritage reference ↗

Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-20

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