Symbol of Racial Reconciliation, Pasadenan Joan Williams Dies at 86Posted in Articles, Media Archive, United States, Women on 2019-09-08 23:50Z by Steven |
Symbol of Racial Reconciliation, Pasadenan Joan Williams Dies at 86
Pasadena Now
Pasadena, California
2019-03-01
Stephen Siciliano, Managing Editor
Photography courtesy Robert “Chip” Williams
Joan Williams, who did not leave Pasadena after being stripped of her 1958 “Miss Crown City” title but stayed and watched her hometown change with time has died, according to her son Robert “Chip” Williams.
Williams passed away on Feb. 20 in Pasadena, at the age of 86, enough time to be denied a rightful ride in the Rose Parade because of her race and decades later to see that wrong righted.
When officials discovered Williams was a light-complexioned African American, the float she was to ride was canceled. Her story finally publicized, Williams got her trip down Colorado Boulevard in the 2015 Rose Parade…
Read the entire obituary here.