Mamie Willaims: Forerunner of Stacey Abrams

e​The story of the women of Savannah especially black women has only begun to be explored. Whether it be Mathilda Beasley, Susie King Taylor, Rebecca StilesTaylor, Leah Sears, and many others their contribution to Savannah and the larger world has been immense. They represent the best of Savannah and America. Mamie Williams was one of these brave and creative women.

Mamie was born in Savannah in April in 1872 to Reverend James and Sarah Miller. She was educated at Beach Institute and at Atlanta University. She would be married twice and widowed twice. And along the way she would make her mark in the politics of Savannah and America. It was during World War I that she first began to exhibit her commitment to be of service to the world. She would volunteer with the Toussaint L’Ouverture branch of the American Red Cross here in Savannah. She would accumulate 2,400 hours of volunteer time which in turn earn her recognition to commemorate her service. Her time in volunteering would give her the knowledge of how to organize as it did for so many of the women involved in the Toussain L’Overture branch.

She also became very involved in registering women to vote especially black women. Her registration drive so startled the Governor of Georgia that he stopped all women registration so the state legislators could pass ancillary laws to make the men more comfortable with the women vote. Mamie was credited with bringing 40,000 Georgia women to vote in the 1920 presidential election the first election that women could vote. She did this by flooding 160 counties of Georgia with literature, making speeches and picketing polling places. She was a Stacy Abrams before Abrams was even born or maybe Abrams is a Mamie Williams. Because of her hard and successful work in 1924 she made national history. She was the first woman from Georgian and first African American woman in the nation to serve on the National Republican Committee. She also became the first woman in US history to be allowed to have the floor at the Republican National Committee. She defended the seating of Black Republicans because of the white faction’s effort to unseat black Republicans of their power. The Atlanta World would say of her “As a modern Esther pleading for her people, she knew no compromise, accepted no quarter...Mrs. Williams will go down in history as the champion saint of her people, with her hands unstained and her conscious clear and with the consolation that at no time did temptation in its glaring disguise move her to deliver her people and her party for thirty pieces of silver.”

​When the political climate no longer allowed black participation in the political realm. She regeared her efforts. She was a charter member of the Federation of Southeast Federation of Colored Women’s Club, established in 1924. Her leadership qualities in organizing led Williams to be elected President of the Georgia Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs and was awarded the Founder’s Gold Medal. She even was elected Vice-President of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, serving with such venerable women as Hallie Q. Brown, Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells, and Mary McLeod Bethune.

Meanwhile, back here in Savannah Williams was a member of the Interracial Commission of Georgia and the President of the Chatham County Colored Citizen Council. She fought for the black youth of Savannah she was the matron-in-charge of the Chatham County Protective Home for Colored Girls. She continued to work with Girl Scouts in Savannah and was recognized with a troop named in her honor. In the 1940s she led a movement to establish the Colored Recreation and Swimming Pool in Savannah and was instrumental in securing a grant to establish a state home for colored girls in Macon.

She was also a successful businesswoman who served as a Director of the historically black run Carver Bank and as Board Member of Central (City) State College in Macon. She was a leader not only a political and civic leader but also a leader in the business world.
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 In 1935 Williams was awarded the Waldorf Club silver loving cup for outstanding service. In recognition of her efforts on behalf of African-American women in Savannah, Williams was elected an honorary member of the Iota Phi Lambda Sorority. The Iota Phi Lambda Society was the first African American Greek-lettered business sorority established by African American business women In 2018 she was posthumously named a Georgia Woman of Achievement. She was an unstoppable dynamo that loved and lived in Savannah.
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Mamie Williams died in the Savannah Charity Hospital in 1951. In eulogizing Williams, Sol Johnson, editor of the Savannah Tribune, wrote:
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“In the passing of Mrs. (Mamie) George S. Williams, Savannah has lost another citizen...loyal to it to the core and a tireless champion of her people...Perhaps none of her activities gave her more satisfaction than her work with the Chatham Protective Home for Negro Girls and the Girl Scouts. Many children whom she mothered bear eloquent testimony of the devotion to a cause to which she gave the latter years of her life.”5
Mamie Williams was indeed a tireless fighter. She was a leader in state, regional, and national women’s clubs, fought for a Republican delegation representative of both black and white citizens of Georgia, and scored “firsts” for women in national politics. Although battle-tested, victorious, and at times standing as a “lone reed” speaking out on behalf of her people, Williams never flinched; she never gave in. Mamie George Williams was a beacon of light and hope for women across Georgia and the nation. She was truly an “Esther of her people.”
 
Mamie Williams is not necessarily a known name today in America because she was prophet calling out in a time of injustice. But her voice led the way for racial equality and justice who made things more equitable for her people and challenged the unjust systems of her day.

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