Ethel James Williams was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 10, 1915. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Temple University and a master’s in social work from Columbia University. She settled in the D.C. Metropolitan area in 1950, where she was a fixture in government, social services, and political activism for five decades and served in the roles of Executive Director of the Southeast Neighborhood House and the Executive Director of the D.C. Women’s Commission. Ethel Williams’ tenure as the Executive Director of the Southeast Neighborhood House lasted from 1950 to 1961. The Southeast Neighborhood House was founded in 1929 by physician and public health activist Dorothy Boulding Ferebee (1898-1980). Originally called Southeast Settlement House, the Southeast Neighborhood House was a community center that provided services for working class African American families, including leadership training, childcare, and recreational opportunities for youth. The center evolved into a hub for grassroots community organizing and activism. By 1992, the Southeast Neighborhood House was considered defunct. In the 1980, then-mayor Marion Barry appointed Williams as the Executive Director of the D.C. Commission for Women. The D.C. Commission for Women was created through the District of Columbia Commission for Women Act of 1978. The Commission’s purpose was to support programs directed toward evaluating and improving the status of women in the D.C. During her career, Williams held numerous positions including: Executive Director of the National Association of Commissions for Women; a fellowship with the U.S. Department of Housing and Community Development; a staffer with the first D.C. City Council, research director of D.C. City Council; Division Chief for the Equal Employment Opportunity department; Assistant Director of the D.C. Commissioners' Council on Human Relations; an associate professor at the Howard University Graduate School of Social Work; Associate Director of Compliance for the Office of Human Rights; Supervisory Social Work Program Specialist for the Minority Business Opportunity Commission; and Commissioner and Chairperson of ANC (Advisory Neighborhood Commission) 2D. This list is not exhaustive as Williams also served in the Civil Rights Compliance Program, the Department of Human Resources. Her high level of community service extended to non-government organizations such as the D.C. United Way, Metropolitan YMCA & YWCA, Metropolitan Housing and Planning Association, and the Black Women’s Agenda. She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and Shiloh Baptist Church in northwest D.C. Ethel Williams died on April 21, 2003, at Manor Care nursing home in Wheaton, Maryland.