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☆BLACK HISTORY ARCHIVES☆Clara Belle Drisdale Williams 1885-1993: the 1st African-American graduate of New Mexico State University. Many of her professors would not allow her inside the classroom, she had to take notes from the hallway; she was also not allowed to walk with her class to get her diploma. She married Jasper Williams in 1917; their 3 sons became physicians. She was a great teacher of black students by day & by night she taught their parents-former slaves- home economics. In 1961, New Mexico State Univ. named a street on its campus after Williams; in 2005 the English department building was renamed Clara Belle Williams Hall. In 1980, Williams was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws degree by NMSU, which also apologized for the treatment she was subjected to as a student. She died at 108 yrs of age.