Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Simone Williams, diversity and engagement librarian at Lovejoy Library and assistant professor, was featured in Riverbender.com for helping to bring Viola "Mother" Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, to campus.

"If it wasn't for Viola actually sitting down and writing this down, this would have been [forgotten]," said Williams in the article, referencing Mother Fletcher's and her grandson's (Ike Howard) book, ""Don't Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre In Her Own Words."

Williams also discussed the importance of listening to the accounts of other seniors.

"The contributions from Black women just become invisible in history. Even women who had ordinary lives were extraordinary in so many ways," she continued in the article. Williams also referenced the valuable impact of her grandmother, who recently passed.

Photo:
(L-R): Viola "Mother" Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, and Simone Williams, diversity and engagement librarian at Lovejoy Library and assistant professor.