Iola Williams

Iola M. Williams (February 2, 1936 – April 4, 2019) was an American politician, public official, civil rights activist and museum executive.

Williams was born Iola Craft on February 2, 1936, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi to parents who were a teacher and warehouse worker.

She attended the Eureka School in Hattiesburg, the first brick black school building constructed in the state of Mississippi during segregation.

She saved the museum's original, existing structure, which had opened in 1942 as a USO Club for African American soldiers stationed at nearby Camp Shelby during World War II.

In 1955, Croft married George Williams Sr., a United States Air Force non-commissioned officer from her neighborhood.

George Williams eventually rose to the rank of master sergeant during his career.

The couple had seven children within the first ten years of their marriage - four daughters, Jenifer, Audrey, Beverly, and Ila, and three sons, Vincent, George Jr., and Kevin.

Iola Williams and her family moved frequently due to her husband's Air Force career.

The family were stationed in bases in South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Illinois, and California, as well as three years in Europe, including a base in West Germany.

In 1966, while Iola Williams was living overseas, the Ku Klux Klan attacked and fire bombed the home of her cousin, Vernon Dahmer, who had been using his grocery store to help black residents of Hattiesburg register to vote.

Dahmer died from burns sustained in the attack and his murder drew national attention.

Iola Williams had grown up in segregated Mississippi and her cousin, activist Vernon Dahmer, had been murdered in a KKK attack in Hattiesburg in 1966.

In 1969, Iola Williams and her family moved to San Jose, California, where her husband had been hired as a mechanic for United Airlines.

At this point, Williams had studied to become a licensed vocational nurse and began work at O'Connor Hospital in San Jose.

The Williams attended Antioch Baptist Church in downtown San Jose, which The Mercury News described as "an incubator of emerging black leaders."

Iola Williams played the piano, sang in the church choir and volunteered in the church's school, which would lead to her interest in running for the local school board.

In 1970, Iola Williams became the first African-American to be elected to the Franklin-McKinley School District school board, which covers a portion of the city of San Jose.

She served on the school board from 1970 until her appointment to the San Jose City Council in 1979.

Williams' election to the school board marked the beginning of a wave of female candidates who were elected to public office throughout Santa Clara County during the 1970s.

The county became known as the "feminist capital of the world" due to the unprecedented number of female elected officials during this era.

Williams credited the rise of other female politicians in Santa Clara County with helping her enter politics and navigate the political landscape during the 1970s.

Williams launched an unsuccessful attempt to unseat San Jose councilman Joe Colla in the late 1970s using the creative campaign slogan "Iola the Un-Colla", but lost the race.

According to Ken Yeager, a former member of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors who worked on Williams' political campaigns for school board and city council during the 1970s, "Iola was a pivotal figure in the civil rights movement...As the first African American to serve on the San Jose City Council, she led the way for other minorities to run for office."

Yeager also praised her contributions to equal rights, noting that, "She was so open and so friendly and someone who just had a remarkable moral compass at a time when there was still a lot of controversy over women’s rights, African American rights, gay rights."

(Wilson had previously become the third women elected to San Jose City Council back in 1974.) Iola Williams was appointed fill Wilson's newly vacant seat on the San Jose City Council in 1979, becoming the first African-American to serve on the council in its history.

Notable women who entered elected politics the decade included Williams and Janet Gray Hayes, who became the first female Mayor of San Jose in 1975.

Women also gained majorities on the San Jose City Council and the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, a rarity in the United States at this time.

However, soon after the 1978 election, incumbent San Jose Council member Susanne Wilson vacated her seat following her election to the country-wide Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.

In 1979, Williams became the first African-American to join the San Jose City Council, an office she held from her appointment in 1979 until her retirement from council in 1991.

During this time, she also served as the Vice Mayor of San Jose, California for two terms.

Williams was instrumental in the creation of the African American Military History Museum in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, as the institution's former executive director.

Williams began her public career by serving on the Franklin-McKinley School District school board, which covers a portion of the city of San Jose, California, for 12 years, until her appointment to the San Jose City Council in 1979.

A young Ken Yeager, and future District 6 City Councilmember, worked with William's campaign.

Williams served on the city council from 1979 until her retirement in 1991, including two simultaneous terms as the Vice Mayor of San Jose.

She was elected to her first full term in 1980.

In 1980, shortly after joining city council, Williams received and completed a United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) fellowship to the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Williams was known as a champion for minority and women's rights during her tenure on city council.

During the 1980s, members of the Ku Klux Klan applied for a permit to march through downtown San Jose.

In 1986, when a local gay rights organization called Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee (BAYMEC) held in its first dinner, Iola Williams was the only elected official to attend the event.

Under Williams, the former USO Club building was preserved, renovated and re-opened as the African American Military History Museum in 2009.