Williams, Charl Ormond

Charl Williams was elected County Superintendent of Public Instruction for Shelby County, Tennessee. She served in the office from 1912 and for several terms. While serving as superintendent Williams petitioned the state legislature for changes in the position of school officers in Shelby County. Williams was a leading proponent of equal education, including that for all races. She concentrated on appealing to women to bring this about and became a leading suffragist in the state of Tennessee. Williams was a leading civil rights activist in education through the first half of the twentieth century. She became a national leader in education from the 1920s onward.