ABOUT NED E. WILLIAMS MAGNET STEAM ACADEMY

Professor Ned Edward (N. E.) Williams

September 15, 1864 - November 28, 1945

A Biographical History

Ned Edward Williams was born a slave on September 4, 1864 to Ms. Partha Williams (being a slave, his father was not known) on a Plantation owned by James W. Williams in Sabine County, Texas. He was reared in rural Shelby County, Texas (near the East Hamilton community), until he was approximately sixteen years old. His mother had three other children; Jake, Della and Ludie.

In 1880 the family migrated by wagon train to Kansas for a better life and lived there for about 18 months in the Coffeyville area. Kansas proved to be no better than East Texas, in addition to the weather being rather hostile at the time. The family decided to return to Shelby County. Instead they stopped by a farm owned by Dr. Mitchell in rural Gregg County, near the Elderville community. They worked on the farm for a while and decided to stay in the area instead of returning to Shelby County.

During this time Ned E. Williams kept privately studying books he acquired along the way after he finished his chores. Dr. and Mrs. Mitchell encouraged him to continue his studies. Since he was self-taught and very studious, he was encouraged by Professor F. A. Glenn to enter the teaching profession. Williams took the examination and passed, despite having never received a formal education. He started his teaching career in 1883 at a small school in community of Fredonia, about 8 miles south of Longview.

Ned E. Williams taught in Fredonia until 1889, when he was called home to the community of Greenville (southeast of Longview near the East Texas Regional Airport) to assist in setting up and running a school that would later bear his name. The school operated in the Elderville School District under the following names: Greenville School, Greenville High School, Gregg County Training School, and finally Ned E. Williams High School. The school continued in operation for over 80 years producing thousands of graduates who have served the community and the nation as teachers, preachers, lawyers, chemists, business leaders, administrators and leaders in the armed forces.

Professor Williams was able attend Bishop College in Marshall, and the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama despite not having the benefit of a formal high school education. While at Tuskegee Institute he studied under influential American thinkers Dr. Booker T. Washington and Dr. George Washington Carver.

When he returned to Texas, Williams regularly corresponded with them until they each passed away. Dr. Booker T. Washington died in 1915. Dr. George Washington Carver died in 1943. Dr. Carver made his first visit to Longview in 1915, and again 1927 when he stayed in the home of Professor Ned E. Williams for about a week to visit the school and community. Shortly before Dr. Carver passed, he was scheduled to make another visit to the Williams family and school in Longview. The visit was called off because of scheduling problems during the war (World War II) and his illness.

A devout member of the Pleasant Green Baptist Church, Professor Williams served a number of capacities as Deacon, Trustee, Church Clerk, and Sunday School Teacher to name a few. He was also a Mason in the Prince Hall Cuney Lodge. He kept the community informed of various issues affecting them through voter education, counseling, Notary Public. He continued to remind residents to pay their poll taxes and vote so they could effect the outcome of an election.

None of his accomplishments could have been made without his wife the former Adah Richardson whom he married on February 1, 1883. Ten children were born to this union and they were; Cora H., Alfred L., John R., Mattie L., Neddie D., Elzie R., Frances A., Lena B., Victor H. and Wilbert E. Five of the children became teachers and five engaged other endeavors. Two of them taught with him at the school; Elzie R. and Lena B. Elzie (E. R.).

In 1883, Williams established the Greenville School, in the former Elderville Community School District. In 1918, the school's name was changed to Gregg County Training School, and Williams was named its first principal. Upon his death in 1945, the school's name was changed to honor its founder and longtime principal. His son, E.R. Williams, followed in his footsteps and served as principal and district superintendent.

A brick building was constructed in 1964, and the original Ned E. Williams School operated until 1969, when it consolidated with Longview ISD as the district integrated its schools.

When the Longview ISD board of trustees called for a bond election in May 2008 that would finance construction and renovation of facilities across the district, the plan was to follow a neighborhood schools concept that would, in part, shorten bus rides. Trustees decided to build a campus south of Interstate 20 to meet the needs of students in the area.

LISD Superintendent Dr. James Wilcox said naming the campus after Williams was a natural choice.

"Professor Ned E. Williams was truly a man ahead of his time, who left a legacy in our community that continues to this day," Wilcox said. "Ned E. Williams established a school to give students who did not have the opportunity to learn a chance to get an education. It is a tradition that our entire district takes sacred."

After over 60 years in the field of education, Professor Ned E. Williams passed away on November 27, 1945 leaving behind a world in much better shape than he found it.

Writing in his book "History of My Life" dated December 11, 1928, Ned E. Williams stated: "I am indebted to the best Negroes and Whites of this country for my success if I have made any at all. I do know one thing I have spared no time in trying to make myself an honest citizen and all that come in my way to instruct. So this is about the career of my life. My only regret is I wish I had another to spend."