Carrie Williams

In 1898, J.R. Clifford, West Virginia’s first African-American lawyer, won a landmark civil rights and education case before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals: Williams v. Board of Education. In the case, Clifford argued against the Tucker County Board of Education’s decision to shorten the school year for The Coketon Colored School, a two-room schoolhouse from African-American children, from nine months to only five. Mrs. Carrie Williams, the school’s teacher, approached Clifford and he encouraged her to continue teaching for the full nine months regardless of funding. He then filed a lawsuit against the school board for Williams’ back pay. Clifford won the case at a jury trial, winning again before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. The Court’s decision bolstered equal education rights for African-American students statewide, fifty years before the landmark “Brown v. Board of Education” case. It was also one of the few civil rights victories in a southern state’s high court before the turn of the 20th Century.

An elderly woman sitting in a chair, holding a pipe, wearing glasses and a dark dress, with a textured background.

If you would like to learn more about Carrie Williams, check out the links below:

An orange scissor lift parked against a brick building with a white painted rectangle on the wall.

Colorful mural on a brick wall depicting historical figures from the coal mining industry, including a woman in the center inside an orange oval frame, a man in a suit with a shovel, a woman with a basket, and a boy with a shovel, with a coal mine scene in the background and a large black engine on the left.

Recently a mural has been made of Carrie Williams by local artist, Ali Printz. It is located on the back of the Buxton & Landstreet gallery, viewable from the Blackwater Loop Trail.