BATON ROUGE, La (BRPROUD) –Thursday, September 17th would have been the 99th birthday of a pioneer of education in Baton Rouge.
Odell S. Williams became one of the first to teach African-American history in schools in the parish.
This was done at a time when teaching topics like African-American history was a risk to her.
The late Sadie Roberts-Joseph named her Now and Then African-American Museum in honor of the educator.
Both women advocated for all children to learn about African-American history.
Williams was a 1939 graduate of McKinley Senior High School, and a 1952 graduate of Southern University where she earned her degree in education.
Williams passed away at the age of 90 in 2012.