There were many illustrious names above the entrances of New Orleans schools before the disasters of 2005 struck. Some remain; others are now footnotes in New Orleans educational history. A. P. Tureaud, Langston Hughes, Thomy Lafon, Ernest “Dutch” Morial, John McDonogh, L. B. Landry, Israel Augustine, Valena C. Jones, Sarah T. Reed, Warren Easton, Alceé Fortier, George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, Walter L. Cohen–the list was and is endless. Our campus is graced with the name of Biloxi native and outstanding New Orleans educator Fannie C. Williams.

Fannie C. Williams was born March 23, 1882 in Biloxi, Mississippi. She moved to New Orleans to attend high school and finished both the College Preparatory and Normal Departments of Straight College (now Dillard University) in 1904. In 1920, she received two baccalaureate degrees from Michigan State Normal College at Ypsilanti (now Eastern Michigan University) in Pedagogy and a Master of Arts degree from Michigan University at Ann Arbor in 1938. Later, she pursued further study at Ohio State and Columbia Universities.