George Williams Names Humanity's Crimes

The first attested use of the term "crimes against humanity" came from American minister, politician, and historian George Washington Williams in 1883, when he used it while writing about slavery in the United States. Its better-known use came in 1890, after Williams met King Leopold II of Belgium and visited the Congo Free State, which Leopold controlled as his personal possession. Horrified by the widespread brutality inflicted on the Congolese people, Williams used the phrase in a letter to the U.S. secretary of state describing atrocities committed by Leopold's administration. This 1890 usage is often cited as the phrase's first appearance in its modern English sense.

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