Firefighter

by Herman Williams Jr., James Hall (With)

As a boy, Herman Williams, Jr., and his family fled Harlem in the middle of the night when the infamous riots erupted. But that was only the first in a number of hardships that he would have to endure throughout his extraordinary life. Growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, Williams encountered racism and ignorance on a continual basis, but it really hit home when, as one of the first black streetcar operators in the city, he was subjected to humiliating verbal and physical abuse by passengers and members of the public.

A few years later, after joining the Baltimore Fire Department, Williams worked side-by-side (risking life and limb) with the same firemen who refused to let him eat at the same table with them. Yet, he refused to give up, struggling through 40 years of discrimination and staggering obstacles to become the first African-American fire chief of a major U.S. city.

By the time Williams retired in 2000, he had been at the helm of the fire department for eight years. During that time, he was instrumental in the giveaway of 70,000 smoke detectors to city residents, an act that is credited with reducing the number of fire deaths in the city by more than half in 1999. During Williams's tenure, the city of Baltimore also set record lows in the number of fire deaths. A richly portrayed tale of heroism, family devotion, and personal triumph, Firefighter is a fascinating and motivational story about a man who refused to accept anything short of his dreams.

Paperback

First published February 1, 2002

Reviews

[Stephan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tale of a man's life spent in the Fire Department. The book deals with racism, loss of life, and the hardship of maintaining a family as a firefighter.

Fun fact: This book is about Montel Williams's dad.