Alaskan Grio and African American History Keeper

Community activist Dr. Cal Williams was born on November 30, 1941, in Monroe, LA. A college graduate, Williams served in the United States Air Force during the early 1960s and participated in the Civil Rights Movement through his affiliation with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In 1965, following the advice of Charles and John LeViege, two high school friends enrolled at Alaska Methodist University (now Alaska Pacific University), Williams came to Anchorage seeking a change.

Over the next 60 years, Williams worked at Providence Alaska Medical Center as a dishwasher (aka director of pot...