01
Families who lost someone to violence
You are not alone, and your grief is not too much.
Melvin Williams Sr. · Author & Keynote Speaker
Every Corner
Has a Name
I was two years old when a bullet took my father. It took me forty-three years to cry for him.
Every Corner Has a Name is a memoir by Philadelphia author Melvin Williams Sr. about losing his father to gun violence at age two, facing his father's killer in court, and learning it's OK to cry.
Victim Services Organizations ·Reentry & Corrections Programs ·Community Violence Intervention ·K–12 Districts ·Universities & Student Affairs ·Churches & Faith Communities ·Grief & Bereavement Groups ·Mental Health Conferences ·Nonprofits ·Corporate HR & Leadership Teams ·Law Enforcement Community Programs ·Book Clubs ·
No. 01 · A book for the people left behind
Who this book is for
02
Men who were taught to hold it in
Strength isn't the absence of tears.
03
Counselors, chaplains, and victim advocates
See the grief behind the anger.
04
Reentry and violence-intervention professionals
Most of the young men you serve were grieving first.
05
Educators and youth workers
Ask the question: ‘Have you lost anybody?’
06
Leaders and HR teams
Grief doesn't stay home when people come to work.
No. 02 · Inside the memoir
More than a book.
A story about carrying loss. And space to begin telling your own.
- 25 chapters in five parts
- Letters to the people he lost
- A Guided Journal with 20 prompts
- A Personal Grief Plan
- A Reader's Discussion Guide for book clubs and groups
- Grief resources
No. 03 · Words to carry
“Strength isn't the absence of tears. Strength is crying when you need to and getting back up anyway.”
— Melvin Williams Sr.
No. 04 · From lived experience
Talks that make room for truth.
All speaking topics →Every Corner Has a Name
Grief, Gun Violence, and the Families Left Behind
I grew up on corners named after people we buried. This talk is about the families who stay behind after the cameras leave, and what it takes to carry a name without letting it crush you.
The Man in Between
PTSD, Black Men, and Surviving in Silence
A lot of us were taught to hold it. I held it for forty-three years. We talk honestly about trauma in Black men, what silence costs, and what it looks like to finally put it down.
Forgiveness Is Not Weakness
The Day I Faced My Father's Killer
In 2025 I sat in a courtroom across from the man who killed my father. This is what I learned about anger, forgiveness, and the difference between the two.
Bring this message to your audience.
A place to begin
Read the Prologue — on me.
Before you turn the first chapter, start here.
No. 05 · Before you turn the page
A few honest answers.
What is Every Corner Has a Name about?
Every Corner Has a Name is Melvin Williams Sr.'s memoir of grief, forgiveness, and learning it's OK to cry. It follows the loss of his father to gun violence at age two, the losses that followed, and his decision to face his father's killer in court in 2025.
Who is Melvin Williams Sr.?
Melvin Williams Sr. is a Philadelphia author, grief keynote speaker, and founder and CEO of The Philly Made Us Foundation. Raised in Germantown, he speaks from lived experience about loss to gun violence, forgiveness, and healing.
Is Every Corner Has a Name a true story?
Yes. It is a memoir based on Melvin's own life, including the murder of his father, Melvin Mark Langley, and the grief he carried for decades. In 2025, he stood in a Philadelphia courtroom and chose forgiveness.