BATON ROUGE, La (BRPROUD) –Thursday, September 17th would have been the 99th birthday of a pioneer of education in Baton Rouge.

Odell S. Williams became one of the first to teach African-American history in schools in the parish.

This was done at a time when teaching topics like African-American history was a risk to her.

The late Sadie Roberts-Joseph named her Now and Then African-American Museum in honor of the educator.

Both women advocated for all children to learn about African-American history.

Williams was a 1939 graduate of McKinley Senior High School, and a 1952 graduate of Southern University where she earned her degree in education.

Williams passed away at the age of 90 in 2012.