Alma Williams
1921-04-26 2013-11-05
Alma Stone Williams, educator, English and Music scholar, and pioneer in college racial integration, passed away on Nov. 5, 2013 at her home in Savannah, GA, after a brief illness.
Born in Athens, GA in 1921 and raised in Savannah, Alma enrolled at Spelman College at age 15, after achieving the second highest score in the state on the college entrance exams. She majored in English and Music, and graduated from Spelman at age 19, valedictorian of her class. She immediately entered a Master’s Program in English at Atlanta University.
Two years later, she began a long teaching career, with a position at the historic Penn School on St. Helena Island, SC. She was recruited from there by the legendary educator Horace Mann Bond to teach at Fort Valley State College. Bond was subsequently a major advocate for her to be selected ---in a pioneering experiment in racial integration--to be the first Black student at Black Mountain College, the famous incubator of artistic talent located in the hills of North Carolina. She left a lasting impression, and after her study there in the summer of 1944, Black students and Black teachers were warmly accepted for the rest of the school’s history. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education has recognized her as being the first known Black student to integrate a white college in the South.
In 1945, she was accepted at Juilliard School of Music, and also won a coveted Julius Rosenwald Foundation Fellowship to support her tuition. After one year of piano study at Juilliard, she returned to the faculty at Fort Valley intending to save money for an additional year at Juilliard. However, her plans changed after she met a new faculty member---Russell Williams --- and she ultimately decided to choose love and marriage over a potential career as a concert pianist.
Over the next twelve years, she and her husband, Russell, Sr., had five children, and established their home in Orangeburg, SC, where they both taught at South Carolina State. He died unexpectedly shortly after the birth of their last child, and she took up the task of raising her children while teaching English, Music, or both, at SC State University, Savannah State University, and in private music lessons. While doing this, she completed a second Master’s degree through summer courses at the University of Maryland, this time in Musicology. Her Masters thesis, on Brahms, was so strong that her thesis advisor pronounced it as the “best Ph.D. thesis” he had ever read.
Alma Stone Williams finished her career with two decades as a highly respected Professor of English and Humanities at Savannah State. She was known not only for her intellectual prowess, but also for her warm regard for her students, and their affection for her. Her love of learning was passed on to her children, all of whom hold one or more advanced degrees in their fields, and three of whom became college teachers. After her retirement, she remained active in many endeavors involving family, church, and community.
Born in Athens, GA in 1921 and raised in Savannah, Alma enrolled at Spelman College at age 15, after achieving the second highest score in the state on the college entrance exams. She majored in English and Music, and graduated from Spelman at age 19, valedictorian of her class. She immediately entered a Master’s Program in English at Atlanta University.
Two years later, she began a long teaching career, with a position at the historic Penn School on St. Helena Island, SC. She was recruited from there by the legendary educator Horace Mann Bond to teach at Fort Valley State College. Bond was subsequently a major advocate for her to be selected ---in a pioneering experiment in racial integration--to be the first Black student at Black Mountain College, the famous incubator of artistic talent located in the hills of North Carolina. She left a lasting impression, and after her study there in the summer of 1944, Black students and Black teachers were warmly accepted for the rest of the school’s history. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education has recognized her as being the first known Black student to integrate a white college in the South.
In 1945, she was accepted at Juilliard School of Music, and also won a coveted Julius Rosenwald Foundation Fellowship to support her tuition. After one year of piano study at Juilliard, she returned to the faculty at Fort Valley intending to save money for an additional year at Juilliard. However, her plans changed after she met a new faculty member---Russell Williams --- and she ultimately decided to choose love and marriage over a potential career as a concert pianist.
Over the next twelve years, she and her husband, Russell, Sr., had five children, and established their home in Orangeburg, SC, where they both taught at South Carolina State. He died unexpectedly shortly after the birth of their last child, and she took up the task of raising her children while teaching English, Music, or both, at SC State University, Savannah State University, and in private music lessons. While doing this, she completed a second Master’s degree through summer courses at the University of Maryland, this time in Musicology. Her Masters thesis, on Brahms, was so strong that her thesis advisor pronounced it as the “best Ph.D. thesis” he had ever read.
Alma Stone Williams finished her career with two decades as a highly respected Professor of English and Humanities at Savannah State. She was known not only for her intellectual prowess, but also for her warm regard for her students, and their affection for her. Her love of learning was passed on to her children, all of whom hold one or more advanced degrees in their fields, and three of whom became college teachers. After her retirement, she remained active in many endeavors involving family, church, and community.