Born and raised in Prince Edward County, Willie was respected leader in the Farmville community who represented an older, “accommodationist” approach-working within the existing power structure to advance the lives of African Americans rather than trying to change the system. He was a successful masonry contractor and the descendant of a Blacksmith who had purchased his own freedom, embodying a legacy of perseverance and self-determination.His position in the community and his business success made him reliant, to some extent, as many black business owners were, on the goodwill of white leadership in the county.
Deeply committed to education as a pathway to racial uplift, Redd ensured that all six of his children graduated from college. In the late 1940s, he served as president of the Robert Russa Moton High School PTA, advocating for better school facilities for Black students. He played a key role as an intermediary in efforts to secure a new site for Moton High School, engaging in negotiations with the school board and local industrialist F. H. Hanbury, Jr. While some pushed for a new location, Redd supported expanding the existing building-demonstrating both pragmatism and loyalty to the community’s needs.
Though he was not among the students who led the 1951 Moton student strike, Redd was closely connected to the movement through his leadership and advocacy for education. His moderate stance, however, placed him in a precarious position during the intensifying civil rights struggle. He was criticized from both directions-labeled an “integrationist” by white segregationists and derided as an “Uncle Tom” by more militant activists. Still, Redd’s life reflects the complexities of Black leadership in the Jim Crow South-balancing community advancement with personal risk in an era of profound racial tension.