Jeraldine Williams, who was born and raised in Ybor City, is a lawyer, journalist and former first lady of Florida A&M University.
WUSF interviewed her for our series highlighting important people during Black History Month.
The following is an edited transcript of that interview where Williams tells us about coming of age in a racially divided country.
She starts with what it was like to be a Black journalism student and integrating the University of Florida, before marrying Walter Smith, who went on to be FAMU's president from 1977 to 1985.
Gainesville, 1963
It was scary because here I am in Florida, and to the west of me was Mississippi, where, when they tried to integrate there, two people were killed. And then over in Georgia, the governor had the ax handle, and he was against integration.
And then in Jacksonville, when some Black students were brought in from, I think, Carolina, to integrate the pool, swimming pools at the motels and hotels, the manager of one of them went around and poured acid in the hotel pool while they were in there.
I didn't feel very comfortable. Over time, my anxieties were altered. I looked for what was positive. There could have been a lot negative, but what I know is that I felt safe on the campus.
First lady of FAMU
When I married Walter Smith, he was not Dr. Smith. And I sat down with him, and I explained the law of the land for the family. I said, "Now you're going to have to make your choice."
You got to be the top of whatever area you choose, but you gotta choose one and you gotta be the tops. And he decided that he would get his PhD.
Then he was named president at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. I was really excited about that, and I was really very young.
I might have been 30 years old, and so I was the youngest first lady on the campus. I had to figure out what my role was.
One of the things that I thought was important was for me to be a role model for those who were following me. And so how could I do that? What would I do? And I looked at the fact that I had my bachelor's degree, I had my MBA. And so, I decided to go to law school.
And I thought that that was a stepping stone in a direction of showing the young ladies who were coming behind me that they too could do it.
Eventually, I was elected president of the Tallahassee Barristers, that's the Black lawyers group. And I asked them to authorize me to adopt 20 Black boys. And they said, "Now, wait a minute. Now, we can go along with you for something, but that's a lot."
They didn't know that I also had negotiated with the FAMU ROTC to give 20 cadets, so that each of those boys could have his own buddy. And so. for a semester, I planned a program.
Working with children
I went out and I begged. I didn't know I could beg so well, but I begged up the money for a bus to pick the boys up every week at their school, and they would have to wear their T-shirts. It was G-U-T-S, guts. They had to have guts to be in this program.
And they were what you would call "the least likely to succeed,” but they were excited about wearing their T-shirts and then going and getting on the bus.
And I said, "and the bus has to drop them off to the mamas." They could not drop them off on the corner. They could not drop them off at the playground ... to the mamas. So that cost some money.
And of the 20 [boys], 19 finished the program. I thought that was a pretty high rate of success. That was my beginning with working with children.
