ABSTRACT

Paul Revere Williams was born in Los Angeles on February 18, 1894, and died there on January 23, 1980. His biological parents were Chester Stanley Williams and Lila Churchill Williams. Paul was orphaned by age four and raised by foster parents. His foster father, Charles Clarkson, was a bank janitor. During an interview later in life Williams is quoted as saying,

I determined, when I was still in high school, to become an architect. When I announced that intention to my instructor, he stared at me with as much astonishment as he would have displayed had I proposed a rocket flight to Mars. “Who ever heard of a Negro being an architect?” he demanded…. He pointedout that I would…be obliged to depend entirely upon white clients for my livelihood. “You have ability-but use it some other way. Don’t butt your head futilely against the stone wall of race prejudice.”1