Next up in our #WomenOfBMC series is Alma Stone Williams (1921-2013), a musician, educator, and pioneer in racial integration. In 1944, she was the first Black student at Black Mountain College, and the first to openly integrate in a white college in the segregated American South.
Head to our blog to read about the path to integration at the college and the pioneering role Williams played, paving the way for more students and teachers of colour. Later in life, Williams reflected on what remained from her experience at the college: “I would like to say, “Everything!” But that would not say enough.” But it was the college that really had Williams to thank for her impact, as librarian Nell Rice told her in 1944: “Alma, you have given more to this college than you could possibly have gained.”
Images: Alma Stone. Photograph courtesy of Russell Williams Jr.; Alma Stone Williams. 10 May 2012. Photograph by Kevan Ward. Both from Appalachian Journal’s Black Mountain College Special Edition, vol. 44-45, 2018. Copyright, Appalachian Journal & Appalachian State University, 2018. Used with permission.