Sanders Williams understands Black History Month firsthand.
A helicopter pilot in Vietnam, he received a Purple Heart for his heroism during the war and was deployed to defend the nation’s capital from riots after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Today, the 75-year old resident of Takoma Park, Maryland, routinely tells his grandson to take personal responsibility for his success, referencing the 1967 “life’s blueprint” speech that King gave in Philadelphia roughly half a year before his death.