Helen Marie Williams Jackson (September 16, 1935 – July 26, 2023) was an American fashion model, and one of the first African American models to be featured in mainstream publications of her time.

Career

Working as a stylist in a New York photographer's studio, Williams was discovered at age 17 by celebrity clients such as

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years and covered film, television and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the C ...

and

Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician. At age two, Davis began his career in Vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which t ...

Her career began as an exclusive model for magazines such as

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and Jet. However, the discrimination she faced in the United States as an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

led her to relocate to France in 1960, where she found success modeling for designers such as

Christian Dior Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer and founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Dior, Christian Dior SE. His fashion house is known all around the world, having gained promi ...

and

Jean Dessès Jean Dessès (6 August 1904 – 2 August 1970) was a world leading fashion designer in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. His designs reflected the influences of his travels, specializing in creating draped evening gowns in chiffon and mousseline ...

. She returned to the U.S. in 1961 and despite initial roadblocks went on to be the face of major ad campaigns by brands such as

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, a brand of Belgian company AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. Budweiser is a filte ...

and

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

. She was one of the first clients of

Ophelia DeVore Ophelia DeVore (August 12, 1921 – February 28, 2014) was an American businesswoman, publisher, and model.Margalit Fox(obituary), ''New York Times'', March 13, 2014. She was the first model of African-American descent in the United States. In 1 ...

's Grace De Marco

modeling agency A modeling agency is a company that represents model (person), fashion models, to work for the fashion industry. These agencies earn their income via commission, usually from the deal they make with the model and/or the head agency. The top agen ...

Personal life and death

Helen Marie Williams was born in

Burlington County, New Jersey Burlington County is a county in the South Jersey region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The county is the largest by land area in New Jersey and ranks second behind neighboring Ocean County in total area. Its county seat is Mount Holly.< ...

on September 16, 1935. Williams retired from modeling in 1970, but continued her career in fashion as a stylist. Helen also took up drawing and painting in her early model years which she continued long after her retirement. After a brief marriage to John Clayton Anderson some years earlier, she married Norm Jackson in 1977, whom she had met during her modeling days. They were married until his death in 2017. Williams lived in East Riverton, New Jersey. She died from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

at a care facility in nearby Moorestown, on July 26, 2023, at the age of 87.

Legacy

Williams has been credited with helping to break down racial barriers in modeling. In 2004, she was the recipient of the Trailblazer Award by the Fashion & Arts Xchange organization at a ceremony at New York's

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college under the State University of New York, in New York City. It focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It was founded in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Helen 1935 births 2023 deaths Female models from New Jersey Female models from New York (state) African-American female models 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women People from Cinnaminson Township, New Jersey Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in New Jersey Deaths from dementia in New Jersey