George Williams (YMCA) George Williams (YMCA) Sir George Williams (11 October 18216 November 1905) was an English philanthropist and founder of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). The oldest and largest youth charity in the world, its aim is to support young people to belong, contribute and thrive in their communities. Williams was born on a farm in Dulverton, Somerset, England and baptized into the Church of England. As a young man, he described himself as a "careless, thoughtless, godless, swearing young fellow". After an accident, his family sent him to Bridgwater to be an apprentice at a draper's shop. In 1837, Williams
George Washington Williams George Washington Williams George Washington Williams (October 16, 1849 – August 2, 1891) was an American Civil War soldier, Baptist minister, politician, lawyer, journalist, and writer on African-American history. In the late 1880s, Williams turned his interest to Europe and Africa. After having been impressed by meeting King Léopold II of Belgium, he traveled in 1890 to the Congo Free State (then owned by the king) to see its development. Shocked by the widespread, brutal abuses and near-slavery imposed on the Congolese, he wrote an open letter to Leopold in 1890 about the suffering of the region's native inhabitants at