Clara Belle Williams, was more than a outlier, she was a warrior for Black Economic Empowerment! Her and her husband Jasper, raised 3 sons to be doctors and the family founded a clinic in Chicago that served the Black Community. Her life was an 108 year story of Black Love and Black Power!
Respect.
http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/clara-belle-williams-born
Clara Belle Williams
Date:
Sat, 1885-10-31
*The birth of Clara Belle Williams in 1885 is celebrated on this date. She was an African American educator.
Born Clara Belle Drisdale in Plum, Texas, she attended Prairie View Normal and Independent College (now Prairie View A & M University) in 1903, and
was valedictorian of her 1908 graduating class.
Nine years later, she married Jasper Williams, and had three sons: Jasper, James, and Charles. She took courses at the University of Chicago, and then enrolled at the New Mexico College of Agriculture & Mechanic Arts in the fall of 1928. Taking courses only offered during the summer, while she worked as a teacher at Booker T. Washington School in Las Cruces, New Mexico, she graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in English from NMCA&MA in 1937 at the age of 51. Her husband died in 1946.
Clara Belle Williams continued her education well beyond her graduation date, taking graduate level classes into the 1950s. Mrs. Williams provided a shining example of overcoming adversity and served as an inspiration to her family and the people she met throughout her life. She succeeded despite significant obstacles of discrimination placed before her while pursuing her higher education. While attending New Mexico State, she sometimes had to stand outside in the hallway to listen to lectures. During a time Las Cruces’s public schools were also segregated, and thus Williams taught at the Booker T. Washington School for more than 20 years.
Williams’ three sons all went to college and graduated with medical degrees. Charles attended Howard University Medical School in Washington D.C.; Jasper and James graduated from Creighton University Medical School in Omaha, Nebraska. They went on to found the Williams Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. Clara Belle Williams went on to receive many honors during her lifetime. In 1961, New Mexico State University named Williams Street on the main campus in her honor. She received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from NMSU in 1980.
Clara Belle Williams passed away July 3, 1994 at the age of 108. The first Clara Belle Williams Day was celebrated on February 13, 2005 at NMSU. Included in the festivities was the renaming of the NMSU English Building as Clara Belle Williams Hall.
Clara B. Williams Family Endowed Scholarship
Clara B. Williams Family
https://education.nmsu.edu/scholarships/general/clara-b-williams-family/
Clara Belle Williams was graduated from Prairie View Normal and Industrial College in 1905 as valedictorian of her class with a teacher’s certificate. During the summer of 1910, she attended the University of Chicago. She was the first African American teacher in Las Cruces, New Mexico and the first African American to be graduated from New Mexico State University. In 1980 she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree by NMSU. Williams Avenue, a street on campus, was named after her and her three distinguished sons who also attended NMSU and went on to become physicians. Together they built the Williams Clinic which served Chicago’s South side for more than three decades. Mrs. Williams worked as a proud receptionist in her sons’ clinic until she retired at 91. She lived to be 108- years- old. In 2005 the University named the English building Clara Belle Williams Hall. The Clara B. Williams Scholarship is offered in honor of her legacy of lifelong education.