Mary Brown "Brownie" Williams Ledbetter (1932-2010)

2020/2021/2022 Inductee

Mary Brown "Brownie" Williams Ledbetter was a lifelong political activist and the driving force behind pivotal political campaigns and the formation of organizations that supported fair education and equality for all.

Born on April 28, 1932, she was the eldest of four children. Born with brown eyes, her family called her “Brownie,” and the nickname stuck. Her mother died in 1947, shortly followed by her father in 1950. Brownie and her siblings were then cared for by her relatives Grainger and Frances Williams, who moved into the Tall Timber Jersey Farm (the Williams family farm) with their children.

Brownie graduated from Little Rock High School (later named Central High School). She then attended Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga, from 1950 to 1953 but felt she did not fit the image of Southern womanhood the school projected and did not finish her degree. On July 26, 1953, she married Calvin Reville Ledbetter, an attorney, and political science professor. Brownie and Cal moved to Germany, where he served with the U.S. Army for three years.

While in Germany, Brownie heard about the desegregation crisis at Central High School. Her aunt signed her up for the Women's Emergency Committee to Save Our Schools (WEC), which supported the reopening of public schools. In 1963 Ledbetter began working with the Panel of American Women, a forum where women promoted religious and cultural diversity by sharing their own experiences. In 1981 the Panel became the Arkansas Public Policy Panel (APPP). Ledbetter served as Executive Director of the APPP until 1999 when she spearheaded the creation of the progressive Arkansas Citizens First Congress.

In 1983, Ledbetter founded the Arkansas Fairness Council, a coalition of 23 organizations representing labor, African Americans, teachers, environmental and church organizations, serving as president and chief lobbyist for 15 years. She also was a founding member of the Arkansas Women's Political Caucus, an organizing member of the ERA/Arkansas Coalition, founder and Executive Director of Arkansas Career Resources, Inc., State Director of the Southern Coalition for Educational Equity, legislative director of the State Federation of Business and Professional Women, and co-founder of the Women's Environment and Development Organization.

Ledbetter also worked behind the scenes on many state and national political campaigns. In 1967, she managed her husband's campaign for the Arkansas General Assembly and, in 1970, served as an organizer and consultant in Dale Bumpers’ run for governor. She ran the Arkansas McGovern for President Campaign and was a senior consultant to the Fulbright senatorial campaign in 1974. Ledbetter served as the first Political Action Chair of the National Women's Political Caucus in 1973 and was behind a successful statewide effort to support the appointment of the first African-American federal judge from Arkansas. She served on the State Democratic Central Committee from 1968 to 1974 and as Affirmative Action Committee Coordinator for the Arkansas Democratic Party from 1973 to 1974. Brownie helped organize the first Planned Parenthood affiliate and clinic in Arkansas in 1984 and led the effort to defeat the first statewide ballot initiative restricting access to birth control and abortion.

Through her service on the Women's Environmental and Development Organization (WEDO) and the National Congress of Neighborhood Women, she had the opportunity to work with women and minorities from across the world. Ledbetter participated as a nongovernmental delegate in several UN preparatory and commission meetings in New York, Rio, Cairo, Beijing, and Johannesburg.

Brownie’s numerous awards and recognitions include the American Civil Liberties Union’s Civil Libertarian of the Year, the Mary Hatwood Futrell Award from the National Education Association, the Father Joe Biltz Award from the Just Communities for Central Arkansas, and the National Women's History Month Award. The Arkansas Public Policy Panel and the Arkansas Citizen's Congress created the “Brownie Ledbetter Dragonslayer Award” to recognize outstanding achievement in social justice. After retirement, she served on the national board of the Center for the Advancement of Women in New York City. She was also a founding member of the Women's Foundation of Arkansas.

Photos credited by CALS Butler Center