Vera Jackson Gilliam Williams

2023 Honoree

Ms. VERA JACKSON GILLIAM WILLIAMS of the great state of Maryland.

She is the founder and President of the Solomon Northup Foundation named after her Great, Great, Great Grandfather Solomon Northup of the famed book and award-winning movie 12 Years a Slave.  

The foundation raises awareness of Solomon Northup a free man, who was kidnapped, sold into slavery and shares the stories of other Africans, African Americans throughout history whose labor was fundamental to the development of the economic infrastructure of this great country.  Vera descends from Solomon’s father Mintus Northup from New York.