Meet Clara Belle Drisdale Williams [1885-1993], the first African-American graduate of New Mexico State University.


 Many of her professors wouldn’t let her sit in the classroom, so she had to take notes from the hallway. She wasn’t allowed to walk with her class to get her diploma either. In 1917, she married Jasper Williams, and their three sons became doctors. Clara became a great teacher for Black students during the day, and at night, she taught their parents—who were former slaves—home economics.


In 1961, New Mexico State University named a street on campus after her. In 2005, the building for the English department was renamed Clara Belle Williams Hall. In 1980, she was awarded an honorary degree by NMSU, and the school apologized for how she was treated as a student. Clara lived to be 108 years old.

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