Maria P. Williams

She wrote her memoir in 1916 titled My Work and Public Sentiment, in which she identified herself as a national organizer and speaker with the Good Citizens League, and stated that ten percent of the proceeds would go to suppressing crime among African Americans.

• Name — Maria P. Williams • Born — 1866 • Birthplace — Versailles, Missouri • Died — 1932 • Place of death — Kansas City, Missouri • Occupation — Teacher, Actor, Activist, Director, Filmmaker, Editor, Author, Scriptwriter and Producer • Known for — First film producer who was also Black and female • Notable Works — 1923's Flames of Wrath • Spouse — Jessie L. Williams (married 1891-1923) Ernest D. Linwood (married 1924-1932)

Williams served as editor-in-chief (1891–1894) of the Kansas City weekly New Era. This spurred her to seek greater independence by founding, writing and editing her own newspaper, The Woman's Voice (1896–1900), "sponsored by the 'colored women's auxiliary' of the Republican Party; the paper was described as having "many pleasant things to say on a choice of timely topics.'" In 1916, Williams wrote and published her memoir. Williams had been married since 1891 to entrepreneur Jesse L. Williams, who owned a movie theater among several other businesses in Kansas City. The pair co-managed the movie theater, which gave the couple experience in the distribution and release of films for African-American audiences. With Williams serving both as the company's secretary and treasurer, the couple went on to co-found Western Film Producing Co. and Booking Exchange, and Williams went on to write the script for The Flames of Wrath, produce a film from the script and play the role of prosecuting attorney in the five-reel film. That same year, Williams' husband died, and she later went on to marry another man named Ernest D. Linwood. She died in 1932, after being "called away from her home by a stranger who requested help for his ill brother. She was found shot to death on the side of a road several miles from her home. The murder remains unsolved." Ironically, the plot for The Flames of Wrath concerns the investigation of a murder after a robbery. Aimee Dixon Anthony stated that Williams could also reasonably be considered the film's director, given how undifferentiated the two roles were at that time. That distinction is typically granted to Tressie Souders, however, who served as director of 1922's A Woman's Error, but there is no evidence Souders' film was ever released.

• African American cinema • Black women film pioneers • Pioneers of African-American Cinema • Race film