EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; CLARA BELLE DRISDALE WILLIAMS P/70

  

In this post I will continue my story on Clara Bell Drisdale Williams. She lived from 1885 - 1994. In 1924, the Williams family left Texas and moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico where they homesteaded 640 acres of land. Clara continued her education by taking extension and correspondence courses from the University of Chicago. However, in 1928 she enrolled at the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now New Mexico State University). While Clara was a student she was segregated from other students because of her race and often had to listen to lectures outside of classrooms and take notes while standing.

In 1937, at age 51, Clara became the first African American to graduate from New Mexico State University. She received a bachelor of arts in English, but was not allowed to participate in her class's graduation. Despite her humiliation, Clara continued her education at the university by taking twelve hours of graduate work. 

After graduation, Clara taught at the Booker T. Washington School in the racially segregated Las Cruces school system for twenty-seven years before retiring and moving to Chicago in 1951.

In 1980, 43 years after she graduated, Clara received an honorary law degree along with an apology from school officials for the racist treatment she endured while a student at New Mexico State University.

Clara died in 1994, at the age of 108.