Annette Polly Williams (January 10, 1937 – November 9, 2014) was an Americancounselor,clerical worker and politician fromMilwaukee who served 10 terms as aDemocratic Party member of theWisconsin State Assembly, representing her assembly district from her election in 1980 until January 3, 2011.^[1]

Williams was born inBelzoni, Mississippi, in 1937 and graduated fromNorth Division High School, attendedMilwaukee Area Technical College from 1971–73, then went on to earn a BS degree from theUniversity of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 1975. After working as amental health assistant, counselor, cashier, clerk, keypunch operator, and typist, while raising four children. she was elected to the Assembly in 1980 and became a full-time legislator.

Williams was active in civic affairs, serving on the board or advisory council of such organizations as Urban Day School, Inner City Council on Alcoholism, S.E. Wisconsin Health Systems Agency, Wisconsin Black Women's Network, Central City Bicycle Safety Program, Family Services of Milwaukee, and the Wisconsin Black Women's Assembly. In 1975, she became secretary of the Northside [Milwaukee] unit of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, moving up to First Vice-President in 1977; and she served as a delegate to various state Democratic conventions and on committees for the state and congressional district units of the party. In 1975, she was also appointed to the Wisconsin State Equal Rights Council, where she would serve until 1980.^{[citation needed]}

In 1980 she won the Democratic nomination in what was then the 17th Assembly district by a vote of 1291 to 762, unseating four-term incumbentWalter L. Ward Jr.; and was unopposed in the general election. She was assigned to thestanding committees oncommerce andconsumer affairs; onaging,women andminorities; onconsumer andcommercial credit; oneducation; and onsmall business andeconomic development.^[2] In May 2010, Williams announced she would not seek reelection.^[3] She was succeeded byElizabeth M. Coggs (D-WI).

Williams was the author of the United States' firstschool choice legislation, approving school choice in 1989, and expanding the program to include religious schools five years later. She lectured at institutions includingHarvard,Yale,Marquette,Stanford, andJohns Hopkins universities. From 1990–97, she earned some $163,000 inhonoraria and expenses, far more than any other legislator in Wisconsin. The legislation brought Williams national fame, but she began to disown both the choice program and its supporters. Williams later said Michael Joyce of theLynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and other school choice proponents wanted to expand the program to middle-class families by ending the income limits ("Joyce wanted to make it universal") and called it "a Catholic program". She accused choice and voucher proponents of exploiting black parents and children, saying"I haven't changed. The people around me have changed."^[4] "I don't agree with the way things are going at all", she said in an interview in 2011. "It's no longer the program that I supported at first."^[5]

She received such awards as UW-Milwaukee Lifetime Achievement Award, UW-Milwaukee Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumnus, National Black Caucus of State Legislators President's Award for Distinguished Service, and she was named byThe New York Times as one of "Thirteen Innovators Who Changed Education in the 20th Century".^[6]

Williams died on November 9, 2014, in Milwaukee, aged 77. The cause of death was not disclosed.^[7]

• Profile atVote Smart
• Follow the Money - Annette Polly Williams
  • 200820062004200220001998 campaign contributions
• Campaign 2008 campaign contributions atWisconsin Democracy Campaign

• African-American state legislators in Wisconsin
• Milwaukee Area Technical College alumni
• Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• People from Belzoni, Mississippi
• Politicians from Milwaukee
• University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee alumni
• Women state legislators in Wisconsin
• 2008 United States presidential electors
• 21st-century American women politicians
• 1937 births
• 2014 deaths
• North Division High School (Milwaukee) alumni
• 21st-century African-American women politicians
• 21st-century African-American politicians
• 20th-century African-American politicians
• 20th-century African-American women politicians
• 20th-century American women politicians
• 21st-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature
• 20th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature

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