Clara B. Williams college professors did not allow her inside the classroom because she was Black.
But that didn’t stop her. She took notes from the hallway–standing up! She eventually graduated at the age of 51 and lived to 108 years old and saw her 3 sons become doctors.
—Clara Belle Drisdale Williams [1885-1993] was the valedictorian of the graduating class of Prairie New Normal and Independent College, now (Prairie View A & M University) in 1908.
She enrolled at the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in the fall of 1928, after taking some courses at the University of Chicago. While she worked as a teacher at Booker T. Washington School in Las Cruces, she also took college courses during the summer.
Many of her professors would not allow her inside the classroom, she had to take notes from the hallway; she was also not allowed to walk with her class to get her diploma.
She married Jasper Williams in 1917; their three sons became physicians. She became a great teacher of black students by day, and by night she taught their parents, former slaves, home economics.
In 1961, New Mexico State University named a street on its campus after Williams; in 2005 the building of the English department was renamed Clara Belle Williams Hall.
In 1980 Williams was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws degree by NMSU, which also apologized for the treatment she was subjected to as a student. She died at 108 years old.
