Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Oral history interview with Otha Williams, 1980Biographical NoteOtha Williams was born on January 15, 1918 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was the youngest of thirteen children. Williams' career as a dancer began early when he performed in the 1929 film Hallelujah directed by King Vidor. At eleven years of age, he won an amateur dance contest at The Palace theatre, hosted by American comedy duo Butterbeans and Susie, and moved to Chicago with the pair to receive dance training at Sadie and Mary Bruce's dance schools. His formal education ended when he left home at age eleven, but Williams received private tutoring alongside his dance training, and earned an eleventh grade equivalency. Williams started using heroin in 1935. In 1938, he got a job in Cicero, Illinois dancing at a social club owned by Ralph Capone called the Town Club. At this time, he was also managing a sophisticated drug trafficking operation under the leadership of Al Capone. In 1939, he moved from Chicago to Detroit to dance at a club called Zombie. In December of 1940, he married Olivette Miller, a jazz harpist and the daughter of famous entertainer Flournoy Miller. They divorced three years later. In 1941, Willliams moved from Detroit to Cincinnati to work at the Cotton Club. Soon after, he joined the United Service Organizations and toured Europe and the South Pacific, entertaining the troops. He left the USO in 1945 and moved to New York City. He was arrested around six times throughout his life for mostly drug related charges, and spent a rough total of two years incarcerated. Williams moved to Philadelphia in 1957 where he worked at a pool hall for professional basketball player and showman Jackie Bethards, and continued to sell drugs. He moved back to New York 1966 and worked as a delivery person for Midcity Hardware. Williams visited Morris J. Bernstein Institute for drug detoxification 1966 and 1968. He joined a methadone program in 1972. Otha Williams was interviewed for the project that led to the book Addicts Who Survived. The name is likely a pseudonym for the project
Scope and ContentsIn this interview, Otha Williams discusses his life with a focus on his drug use. He reviews his long and successful dancing career from performing in the 1929 film Hallelujah, to training at Sadie and Mary Bruce's dance schools in Chicago, to performing in nightclubs across the country including the Town Club in Cicero, Illinois, Zombie in Detroit, Michigan, and the Cotton Club in Cincinnati, Ohio. Williams describes the milieu of entertainers in Chicago in the 1930s. He describes how he began casually using heroin in 1935, and how he became addicted in 1946. He describes his experiences selling heroin, including managing a sophisticated drug trafficking operation under the leadership of Al Capone in Chicago in the 1930s. Williams estimates his salary as a dancer in the 1930s, and compares it to his drug expenses. He discusses different hypotheses for why many Black performers used heroin in the early to mid-twentieth century. He discusses the change in price and public perception of marijuana post-criminalization in the 1930s. He compares the price of heroin between different U.S. cities. He discusses touring Europe and the South Pacific as a dancer with the United Service Organizations during World War II. Williams compares the quality and price of heroin before and after World War II. He reviews his arrest record, describing his six arrests for mostly drug related charges, and his rough total of two years incarcerated. He describes substituting morphine and Dilaudid prescriptions for heroin when the drug was scarce or too expensive, and his few experiences with opium. He compares heroin users in his generation to users in the 1980s. Williams discusses his attempts to detox from heroin, both independently and at the Morris J. Bernstein Institute in the 1960s. He discusses joining a methadone program in 1972
SubjectsAccess ConditionsCopyright by David Courtwright
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