The Biography of William Henry Holtzclaw Founder of Utica Normal and Industrial Insitute

William Henry Holtzclaw was born in 1876 in Alabama. In 1910 he was a principal at a college in Hinds County, Mississippi. He was born to a former slaves and sharecroppers. His mother told him that the only way to escape poverty was to get and education.  William went on to enroll in Tuskegee Institute and studied under the leadership of Booker T. Washington. 

Booker T. Washington inspired Williams to used his education to teach and educate the children of former sharecroppers in rural areas in the South poverty stricken communities. Williams chose Utica, Mississippi to solicit support from both black and white people to organize and build the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute. 

Williams was married to Mary Ella Patterson Holtzclaw. Mary was a 1895 graduate of Tuskegee Institute at the Snow Hill Normal and Industrial School in Alabama. After her and Williams moved to Hinds County, Mississippi, she and her husband found Utica Normal and Industrial Institute where she was in charged of the training of black girl's studies. 

The Institute later became Utica Junior College, and eventually the Utica campus of Hinds Community College. He was and author and published two newspaper, the monthly Utica News and a s school newspaper, Southern Notes. He also published his autobiography, " The Black Man's Burden, in 1915.

References

Professor Crawford, I. W: Multa In Parvo The Connell Printing Company, 1904.