Not only did the Black Church give up freedom of speech, but it sacrificed its feet too!
Author Archives: Kristi Orisabiyi Williams
Kristi Williams a.k.a. Orisabiyi is the great great granddaughter of Creek Freedmen, 1874 Supreme Court Justice Jesse Franklin (Dawes #1567) and also the great granddaughter of Cherokee citizens Lillie Vann (Dawes #2736) and Abraham "Abe" Mayberry, a World War 1 Veteran. She is also a descendant from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Her Great Aunt Janie Edwards was in the Dreamland Theater when the massacre occurred.
She is a community Activist/Greenwood Advocate/Organizer, Political Consultant and Campaign Manager for Tulsa’s District 1 Councilor Vanessa Hall Harper, Tulsa's first Black woman to serve as Tulsa City Council Chair. Kristi serves on the National Geographic Oklahoma Advisory Council, Chairperson of the Greater Tulsa African American Affairs Commission and is a member and organizer of the 1921 Tulsa Mass Graves Investigation Committee. Her previous affiliations as the Chair to Tulsa’s Coalition for Social Justice spearheaded the efforts to rename the Brady District in Tulsa, Oklahoma and prevailed.
Kristi received the 2022 Tulsa Juneteenth Community Impact Award. In 2014, she was awarded, “Community Activist of The Year,” from the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. She has been a featured speaker for YWCA’s Stand Against Racism Campaign, Embrace Yourself Foundation as well as a panelist for race relations and activism/advocacy.
She has worked with Lebron James Spring Hill Company and CNN Films Emmy award winning documentary, "Dreamland: The Rise and Fall of Black Wall Street." Kristi has appeared on ABC’s Soul of A Nation, The Who We Are Project: A Chronicle of Racism in America and was recently selected as a lead Storyteller with National Geographic. It is her goal to stand with her Ancestors in order to leave this world better than she found it.
