A.C. Williams Jr.: ‘The Mighty One’

Wiley Henry’s book, “Daddy: A.C. Williams 

Jr. and his Teen Town Singers,” won “Best 

Adult Nonfiction” on March 27 during this year’s 

Richard Wright Literary Awards highlighting 

the work of Memphis authors. The event is 

sponsored annually by Memphis Public Libraries. 

Barbara Winfield was ecstatic when I presented her a copy of my book, “Daddy: A.C. Williams Jr. and his Teen Town Singers.” At the age of 84, she has trouble climbing the stairs in her home, but her aging body hasn’t affected her memory of Mr. Williams and why the book is so important to her.

Andrew Charles Williams Jr. graduated from Tennessee State University in 1938, taught biology at Manassas High School for eight years, and launched his career in broadcasting at WDIA in 1949. 

An affable personality with a penchant for community service and youth development, Mr. Williams was known by his moniker “Moohah,” an Indian name meaning “The Mighty One.” He was the radio station’s first Black fulltime employee who corralled high school students to form The Teen Town Singers. 

“He was like a father to me. After my father died, he would always call my mother to check on me,” said Winfield, who was a student at Booker T. Washington High School when she joined Mr. Williams’s famed choral group. Like some of her choral mates from other Black high schools — Carver, Manassas, Hamilton, Douglass, Melrose — she revered the man for his gentility and doting nature. 

A retired Memphis City Schools teacher, Winfield is one of 19 Teen Towners featured in the 262-page book depicting Mr. Williams’s love for the youth in his charge and his longevity at WDIA — 34 years — as an announcer and director of community relations. 

Published in August 2024 by GrantHouse Publishers in Memphis, the book was the brainchild of Markhum “Mark” L. Stansbury Sr., a Teen Towner himself who finds solace in broadcasting at WDIA for more than 60 years now. A retired university administrator, he wanted Mr. Williams’s legacy in radio, as an educator, and founder of The Teen Town Singers to be preserved for posterity.

Joan E. Patterson, Mr. Williams’s daughter, didn’t want her father’s legacy to go unnoticed either or to be consigned to the dust bin of history. 

Stansbury and other board members of the WDIA Goodwill Fund, the radio station’s charitable arm, gave me the greenlight to write the book. When I spoke to Patterson, she was flabbergasted and offered to help me cobble together the full story of Mr. Williams, who died Dec. 3, 2004, at the age of 87.

“He was a great male figure for me,” said Stansbury, a BTW alum who was raised by his mother in the Foote Homes housing project and at 378 Hernando Street, just south of downtown Memphis. He’d never met his biological father, so he doted on Mr. Williams. 

Carla Thomas, the “Queen of Memphis Soul,” was a Teen Town Singer as well. So was her brother, the late Marvell Thomas. She was 11 years old when she joined the group. 

“I begged Dad to let me join,” said Thomas, whose father, the legendary Rufus Thomas, was a disc jockey at WDIA at that time and held sway with Mr. Williams and other legendary jocks. 

Teen Towners had to be in ninth grade to join the group, but Thomas was different. She could sing and write songs. A song she’d written at Hamilton High School when she was 17, “Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes),” catapulted her to stardom after enrolling at Tennessee State University.

Other Teen Towners were also successful as singers, songwriters, entertainers, entrepreneurs, educators, administrators, athletes and more — just what Mr. Williams had intended when he awarded them scholarships to attend college. Overall, the book is a snapshot of his life and legacy and the love he’d shown inner-city youth looking to belong to something bigger than themselves.

Copyright 2025 TNTRIBUNE. All rights reserved.

(Wiley Henry is an award-winning journalist, author, artist, and photographer who writes for The Tennessee Tribune in Nashville. If you’d like a copy of the book, you can order it from Amazon)

Remembering John A. Simpson of the Memphis State Eight

The Memphis State Eight (circa 1959): Luther McClellan, Marvis Kneeland Jones,
Sammie Johnson, Ralph Prater, Eleanor Gandy, Rose Blakney Love, Bertha
Rogers Looney and John Simpson. (Courtesy photo)

In the fall of 1959, eight African-American students broke the color barrier and integrated the former Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis). Known as the “Memphis State Eight,” four of the eight are now deceased.

John Arthur Simpson is the latest member to die, on Feb. 8. Two others also died, ironically, in February, Black History Month: Eleanor Gandy, 76, who died Feb. 6, 2017, in Charlotte, N. C.; and Rose Blakney-Love, 75, who died Feb. 12, 2017, in Memphis. Sammie Burnette Johnson, 71, died on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday on Jan. 15, 2011. 

Robert E. Simpson Sr. has fond memories of his brother. “We were closer than most brothers. We were inseparable,” he said. “We went to church together, sang in the male chorus together, went to the Grizzlies games together. We enjoyed our relationship as brothers.”

John Arthur Simpson

Mr. Simpson was eulogized on Feb. 14 at Trinity Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. He was 78. Friends and loved ones paid respect to a man who unwittingly made history by defying the status quo.

He and seven others, with moxie aplenty, challenged the university and gained entrance into the all-white institution that once judged them based on the color of their skin rather than scholarship.

Mr. Simpson has been laid to rest now. His accomplishments are duly noted in his obituary and in the annals of history. As Black History Month winds down, only four of the Memphis State Eight remain: Luther McClellan, Marvis Kneeland Jones, Ralph Prater and Bertha Rogers Looney.

 “Last year in September we celebrated 60 years,” said Looney, recalling the 18th day of that month when the University of Memphis honored the five remaining members of the Memphis State Eight.

“I thought it was ironic that we were caught up in history,” she said.

Looney remembers Mr. Simpson as an intellectual who wanted to make sure that everyone was doing well. “I admired him. He was a great person,” she said. “When I walk back on campus, his spirit will be with me.”

“They all seemed to weather the storm and came out balanced,” Simpson said. However, he added that his brother soon grew tired of the rigmarole and didn’t finish Memphis State.

He left the university and married his sweetheart in 1961 from Manassas High School, the former Marion Larkin. He also joined the U.S. Air Force that year and remained for 28 years and retired with the rank of major. After returning to Memphis, he joined MetLife as a retirement marketing sales representative.

Mr. Simpson had made a life for himself after his ordeal at Memphis State University and joined the ranks of other trailblazers who found themselves embroiled in the Civil Rights Movement.

Much to his chagrin, Mr. Simpson had other plans.

“He didn’t like the way he was being treated at Memphis State. They had to sit in a special area. They couldn’t go to the games,” said Markhum “Mark” L. Stansbury Sr., who served as special assistant to Dr. Shirley Raines and three other university presidents.

Once denied admission to the university, Stansbury advocated for the Memphis State Eight. Soon a historical marker was erected in front of the Administration Building in 2006. Raines, then president of the university, welcomed the trailblazers back on campus for the special honor.

Mr. Simpson was in attendance, Looney said, and, like the other trailblazers, welcomed the fanfare. Sixty years ago, they were isolated and faced unbearable hardships trying to get a college education. Now they are celebrated.

Stansbury said he noticed nearly a dozen non-blacks at Mr. Simpson’s funeral. “Back in the day, they couldn’t accept you. Now 60 years later, non-blacks can accept you for what you did.”

Teen Town Singers keep memory of A C “Moohah” Williams alive

Fred Davis (standing) and Joan Patterson (right), daughter of A. C. "Moohah" Williams,
reflect on the era when they were the Teen Town Singers. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

They were the “children” of Andrew Charles “Moohah” Williams Jr., the trailblazing announcer at WDIA 1070 who used his influence to shape the lives young people.

A bevy of them, known as the Teen Town Singers, are now in their 70s and 80s and ambling along. There were hundreds of them altogether. On Dec. 7, at least 30 paid respect and celebrated the birthday of their founding father. He would have been 103 years old. 

Joan Patterson, Williams’ daughter, started the conversation by asking her fellow Teen Town Singers to give a testimony if her father had impacted their lives. She had her own memories to share as well. 

 “I was a little girl, and in those days the pompadour was very popular,” Patterson remembered. “I wanted my hair like that. But Mom didn’t feel like a two-year-old should wear it.”

Her father begged to differ. “Dad wanted to please his little girl. So he took a shoe spoon and wrapped my hair around it into a pompadour. He wanted me to feel like a little princess. I was his little princess.”

Bert Ferguson (left), WDIA's co-owner, chats with J.E.
Walker, founder of University Life Insurance Co. and
sponsor of the Teen Town Singers, and A.C. "Moohah"
Williams (right) in 1952, three years after Williams
founded the chorale group. (Courtesy photo)

Other testimonies were just as compelling and noteworthy, but mostly about the group that Williams steered to success. Some stories drew chuckles. He was their surrogate father and held them to account as he did Patterson, who sang with the group for six years.

“Mr. Williams was like a father to me. He was instrumental in me getting a scholarship for $250. That was a lot back then,” said Percy Wiggins, who used the money to attend Tennessee State University, Williams’ alma mater.

Williams doled out scholarships to other students as well. Markhum “Mark” L. Stansbury Sr. was awarded $100. “That got me through school at Lane College,” said Stansbury, who has been associated with WDIA for 62 years.

Williams was a stickler for education and frowned on wanton behavior, and tardiness, too. He taught biology at Manassas High School where he’d first organized a boys choir. While his work on the radio and in the community was tantamount to his success, he believed a good education was germane.

“All that I went through, I felt loved all the years we were together,” Mary J. Cooper said. “Mr. Williams was our dad and we were good children. That was the theme of the Teen Town Singers.”

Williams began organizing the Teen Town Singers in 1949 shortly after WDIA switched from country and western music to all-black, on-air personalities and programming to attract black listeners. 

Cathryn Rivers Johnson was the pianist for the Teen Town Singers. She taught at Booker T. Washington High School and was the musician for Salem Gilfield Baptist Church. A few in the group evoked her memory as well.

“I’ve known Mr. Williams all my life,” said Dorothy Herenton, the sister of former mayor Dr. Willie W. Herenton. “When Mr. Williams would come over to Booker T. Washington, he would visit Ms. [Cathryn Rivers] Johnson’s class.”

Herenton noted that Williams was a good man – “and he didn’t play.”   

Williams died three days before his birthday on Dec. 4, 2004. He’d worked at WDIA for 34 years as an announcer and director of community relations. Twenty-one of those years were spent organizing and directing the Teen Town Singers.

The group disbanded in 1970. They meet twice a year in honor of Williams – once in the spring and the other around his birthday. The camaraderie is heartfelt; the memories sustain them; and they keep his spirit alive.

Fred Davis, owner of the Fred L. Davis Insurance Agency, said Williams tapped him 27 years ago to chair the group. Williams was also Davis’ teacher at Manassas.

“This group means a lot to me,” Davis said. “I’ve been in this group more than any other group in this town. We still exist.”

Barbara Griffin Winfield said she had the best time in her life when she was a Teen Town Singer. “Don’t think people have forgotten about us,” she said, “because they haven’t.” 

Memphis hasn’t forgotten what Williams did to shape the lives and careers of the youth in his charge. Under his tutelage, their voices rang out over the airwaves at WDIA and they shared the stage with mega stars such as The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and others.

Cheryl Fanion Cotton thanked God for Williams. “I will love him until I die,” said Cotton, who would eventually travel across the country and participate in the Civil Rights Movement. 

“I wish children today had a role model like A C Williams,” she said.

New book about leadership lessons includes Memphis State Eight

Dr. Shirley Raines, former U of M president and author of "An Uncommon
Journey," recognizes Bertha Mae Rogers Looney (right of Raines) and Luther
McClellan, two members of the Memphis State Eight, during a book talk Jan. 26
at Novel Memphis. (Photos by Wiley Henry)

Nearly 60 years ago, eight black students – known as the Memphis State Eight – integrated the former Memphis State University. Before the name was changed to the University of Memphis in 1994, J. Millard (Jack) Smith, who was president from 1946 to 1960, reportedly said, “No blacks shall be admitted as long as I’m president.”

Dr. Shirley Raines, the affable president of the U of M from 2001 to 2013, had no problem acknowledging the history-making trailblazers who shattered the color barrier in 1959: Luther McClellan, Marvis Kneeland Jones, Ralph Prater, John Simpson, Bertha Mae Rogers Looney, Eleanor Gandy, Rose Blakney-Love and Sammie Burnett Johnson.

She pointed out two of them among the audience – McClellan and Looney – who came to hear her expatiate on her new book during a book talk and book signing Jan. 26 at Novel Memphis in the Laurelwood Shopping Center.

Raines is a capable storyteller, an effervescent spirit, which is quite evident in the stories she’s woven together comprising the book “An Uncommon Journey: Leadership Lessons from a Preschool Teacher Who Became a University President.”

“The stories are told from the experiences that you helped me live,” said Raines, speaker, consultant and author, interacting with the surrounding audience.

Dr. Shirley Raines autographs a copy of her book for Luther McClellan.

The Memphis State Eight gets a nod in the book. She first recognized the significance of their rightful place in history and hosted a former dinner and reception in their honor on campus in 2006. A historical marker was erected in front of the Administration Building in 2012.

Much of the credit goes to Markhum “Mark” L. Stansbury Sr., then special assistant to Raines and a longtime luminary over the airwaves at 1070 WDIA. He didn’t want the group to be forgotten and their determination to pursue a college education under dire conditions to be omitted from the annals of history.

“Dr. Raines was really a great president. She was sincere and open to change. And I appreciate her sincerity,” said McClellan, who left Memphis in 1962 during his sophomore year at the university.

“It’s amazing. It’s overwhelming,” added Looney, acknowledging the attention the group has been receiving and the “small contribution” that she said she’d made during that turbulent era in Memphis’ history.

She didn’t want to speak ill will of Smith during his day; however, she did speak favorably of Raines: “Dr. Raines is awesome. It reflects the leadership she gave to the university.”

 “They mean so much to me,” said Raines, recognizing her supporters and others in the audience (including Stansbury) who helped to shape her career as a leader and an academic. She rose from humble beginnings on a sharecropper’s farm in Bells, Tenn., to serving a stint in early childhood education, to serving at the helm of the university as its first female president.

Bells is a quaint city in Crocket County, Tenn., 72.9 miles from her home in Memphis “to be exact,” said Raines, who first eyed the big city of Memphis while growing up in Bells.

“Memphis was always special to me,” she told the audience. “I always wanted to live in Memphis…if the cotton crop was good.”

Born on the farm, Raines’ hardworking parents didn’t quite see the sunny side of an education after high school. Her mother had a 12th-grade education, she said, and her father made it to eighth-grade.

Why write the book?

“I wrote this book to tell my stories, and to inspire leaders, especially aspiring women leaders, who are wondering if they should take their next leadership step,” Raines explained in the book’s preface.

She’s had some invaluable experiences and life lessons on her journey from Bells to Memphis and developed the skillset that would catapult her as a formidable leader tasked with an awesome responsibility. This is the crux of the book.

The manuscript started out at 600 pages, she said, “but my editor said nobody would buy it. So I cut it to 300 pages.” Then she whittled the book down again to about “170-something” pages.

The book starts out with Raines’ formative years and builds from there until she lands the big enchilada at the U of M that naysayers, including her husband, didn’t think she would be selected.

“I was really nervous and really wanted the job,” said Raines, who interviewed with the search committee. “My husband told me that I couldn’t do it. So I had to do it.”

Laughter followed.

She did it her way and set the U of M on a trajectory going forward. She created The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change, for example, and raised millions for the U of M Community Health Building.

“It was a great university before we got there, but we made it better,” Raines said unapologetically, owing her success to the life-lessons she learned over the years and her ability to lead the way.

“I always thought Dr. Raines was a great person. But on yesterday (Jan. 26), her stock went up with me,” said Stansbury, who shared the same sentiments about Raines with his radio listening audience.

Two members from ‘Memphis State 8’ die days apart

The Memphis State Eight: The late Rose Blakney-Love (l to r), the late Eleanor Gandy, Bertha
Rogers-Looney, Luther McClellan, John Simpson, Marvis Laverne Kneeland-Jones (seated).
Not pictured are Ralph Prater and the late Sammie Burnett-Johnson. (Photo by Mark Stansbury Sr.)

On Sept. 18,1959, eight black students walked onto a white college campus when racial tension was seething and forever became known as the “Memphis State Eight.”

Three of the members have died – two recently: Eleanor Gandy, 76, on Feb. 6 in Charlotte, North Carolina; and Rose Blakney-Love, 75, on Feb. 12 in Memphis. Sammie Burnett Johnson, 71, was the first to die in 2011.

Five of the eight members remain: Luther McClellan, Marvis Kneeland Jones, Ralph Prater, John Simpson and Bertha Rogers Looney.

Their courage and determination to integrate the former Memphis State University during the burgeoning civil rights movement may have gone unnoticed if Markhum “Mark” L. Stansbury Sr. had not recognized their historical significance as trailblazers.

“We need to recognize the Memphis State Eight,” Stansbury urged Dr. Shirley Raines when she served as president of the current University of Memphis where he worked as her special assistant.

A photojournalist and trailblazer himself, Stansbury did not want the actions the group took in 1959 to become just a footnote in history or, worse, languish in obscurity. He knew their actions were just that important for posterity.

Raines was convinced the eight trailblazers deserved the recognition and their rightful place in the annals of history. She welcomed them back on campus in 2006 to a rousing reception and ceremony in their honor.

The group’s exploits would catch the attention of the media from time to time and eventually lead to the presentation of a historical marker in front of the Administration Building.

“My life was made richer by knowing them and admiring their courage,” Raines wrote in an email. “It was my distinct honor to have the historical marker honoring them placed on the University of Memphis campus.” 

Stansbury admires the eight trailblazers’ courage as well for defying the University’s racist admissions policy and their disdain for black students at that time. He once tried to enroll, but was denied. He would serve four different presidents nearly 20 years.

Dr. Miriam DeCosta-Willis, who tried to enroll in the university’s graduate program two years before the group’s decision to challenge the all-white faculty and student body, was not accepted either.

An activist, scholar, author and retired university professor, DeCosta-Willis said Gandy, Blakney-Love and Johnson are a passing generation of civil rights fighters. She was shaken by the recent deaths of Gandy and Blakney-Love.

“I mourn the loss of those two valiant individuals,” said DeCosta-Willis. “Now three of the eight are gone. It’s very troubling.”

She was saddened too “when I read that two very courageous fighters were down. I hope people will understand their courage and fortitude. What they went through was abominable.”

They were vilified, harassed and ostracized even after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that separate education was “inherently unequal.” Still, torment and loneliness would follow the eight students on campus each day they were subjected to the harsh reality of racism.

In spite of all the hoopla surrounding their contentious enrollment, the eight students kept their eyes on the prize: a college degree – whether it was conferred by the university or obtained at other colleges where some of the members opted to attend.

Equating the courage and moxie of the Memphis State 8 with Maxine Smith, Vasco Smith and Benjamin L. Hooks, DeCosta-Willis said Gandy, Blakney-Love and Johnson were treasures.

“I hope young people understand the sacrifice they made,” she said. “Sometimes we take for granted what they were able to accomplish.”

Gandy would go on to graduate from the University in 1963. In 1996, she earned a master’s degree in education from Mississippi State University. After graduation, she taught French in Memphis City Schools for more than 20 years.

Two years after integrating the University, Blakney-Love left to get married and went to work for the Tennessee Board of Parole.

“We extend our sympathies to the families of Eleanor Gandy and Rose Blakney-Love,” said U of M president David Rudd in a released statement. “As we continue to grow as a University, we hope the courage and strength shown by these two groundbreaking students will inspire future generations to stand up for what they believe in, and to fight for social justice.”