William Willey

Title

William Willey

Description

William Wiley was a civil rights activist, newspaper editor and postal worker who worked in Providence, Rhode Island. Wiley is known for editing and publishing the Providence Chronicle, the only black newspaper in Rhode Island in its time.

Wiley was born in South Carolina and moved to Providence to live with his father and his second wife (servant of the prominent Rhode Island family, the Chafees) when his mother died. Wiley was editor of his high school newspaper. He could not afford college and joined the Navy in 1918, working as a mess attendant before being promoted to the level of steward. When he returned from service in 1919, he worked for the Imperial Printing and Finishing Company. He met his wife, Olive Wiley|Olive F. Wiley, in 1921, and they were married in 1925. Wiley worked briefly as the editor of religious publication The Burning Bush in Wisconsin, and he trained to be a minister in the late 1920s. In the 1930s, the Wileys returned to Providence. There,

Wiley began editing the Providence Chronicle, and became one of the founding members of the Providence Urban League along with Andrew J. Bell.
<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2966889|title=A passion for equality : George A. Wiley and the movement|last=Kotz, Nick.|date=1977|publisher=Norton|others=Kotz, Mary Lynn,|isbn=0393075176|edition=1st ed|location=New York|oclc=2966889}}</ref>
In 1985 Olive and William Wiley were jointly inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.<ref name="Olive F. Wiley">{{cite web|url=http://www.riheritagehalloffame.org/inductees_detail.cfm?crit=det&iid=139|title=Olive F. Wiley|publisher=Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame|location=Riverside, Rhode Island|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151227181802/http://www.riheritagehalloffame.org/inductees_detail.cfm?crit=det&iid=139|archivedate=27 December 2015|accessdate=27 December 2015}}</ref>

His son was civil rights activist George Wiley|George Alvin Willey, and his granddaughter is civil rights activist Maya Wiley.

Creator

Janaya Kizzie

Publisher

Rhode Island Council for the Humanities

Collection

Articles

Citation

Janaya Kizzie, “William Willey,” Rhode Island Arts and Culture Fellowship, accessed April 29, 2024, https://riartsandculture.omeka.net/items/show/182.

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