N. Louise Willingham, a retired library Administrator and Library Consultant, was born and raised in Washington, D.C, where she completed the public schools of that capital city, graduating in 1954 the year of the historic “Brown vs Board of Education” school desegregation case. (She was therefore a product of the Nation’s capital segregated school system). She attended Morgan State College in Baltimore, Maryland, graduating in 1958. At her college graduation, the commencement speaker was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who two years earlier had successfully led (along with Rosa Parks) the Montgomery Bus Boycott, beginning America’s Civil Rights Movement. So, you see she was a true child of the 60’s. After college she returned to the Washington D.C area. During these turbulent times she was also active in the Civil Rights struggle in the D.C area, attending the “March on Washington” in August 1963, where Martin Luther King, Jr gave his historic “I have a Dream” speech. In 1970 she moved to Atlanta, Ga, after being awarded a fellowship to attend Atlanta University.

Ms. Willingham held a Bachelors Degree in History and Geography from Morgan State College, Baltimore, Maryland and a Masters Degree in Library Science and Information Technology from Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga. In addition she holds a municipal Management Certificate from the University of Georgia; an Archival Certificate from Atlanta University; and a Cataloging Certificate from the Library of Congress, Washington D.C. She studied and had a working knowledge of the Latin, French, Spanish, Russian and Swahili languages.

During her long career in Public Library Administration she served in many professional capacities. Just to name a few—Cataloger, National Library of Medicine, Washington D.C, (while there she received a fellowship to study the Russian language); Editor, Library of Congress, Washington D.C; Atlanta Public Library, Atlanta Ga: Curator-Black History Collection: Director of Cataloging: Director of Technical Operations: And Assistant Library Director. Professor, Atlanta University. President, Metropolitan Atlanta Library Association (First Black woman to hold position). Chairperson, Governors’ Task Force on the Preservation of Library Materials. Delegate, Georgia Pre-White House Conference on Libraries. Delegate, International Federation of Library Associations, Nairobi, Kenya (1984) and professional career can be found in the book, “The Black Librarian in the Southeast” by Annette Pinazee, NCCU Press, Durham, N.C 1980.

Ms. Willingham had a parallel career in African and African-American History and Culture. A few of her cultural endeavors include, Board Member, Curator and one of the founders of the Phoenix Arts and Theatre Company (the first non-profit community Black arts cultural center in Atlanta); Information Specialist, Fulton County Arts Council; Researcher and Programmer, Hammons House Galleries and Resource Center of African American Art; African Cultural Advisor, 1996 Atlanta Olympics; Board Member, Katherine Dunham Dance Institute; High Museum of Art Community Relations Committee. She was also an avid collector of African and African American art. As well as Black memorabilia. She was a philatelist and one of the founders of one of the first African American stamp collectors clubs in the U.S. She has lectured and exhibited in these areas. Information on her collections can be found in the book, “Images of Blacks in American Culture”, by Jesse Carney Smith. Greenwood Press, 1988. She was an early member of the African-American Family History Association, for which she organized some of the first Black History Tours of the South East. As a creative writer, she wrote and published poetry and short stories.

Ms. Willingham Began traveling internationally in the 1960’s to Canada and the Caribbean. She continued her travels to Europe and the continent of Africa in 1984. In 1992, she became an Independent Travel Consultant, where she organized several cultural tours to Africa and travelled there many times. Some highlights of her travels were: 1984-an African safari in Kenya (east Africa); 1992-travelled to Nigeria (West Africa) to attend the first Worldwide Conference on Black Woman at the University of Nigeria; 1995-attended Fespaco Black Film Festival in Burkina Faso (West Africa) –(the ‘Cannes’ festival for Black filmmakers throughout the world). In addition to her travels, she participated in various international endeavors here at home, such as serving as a hostess for the Georgia Council for International Visitors. Upon her retirement from Fulton County in 1991, Ms. Willingham continued her professional activities on a consultation basis. She continued her travels in Europe and Africa, as well as the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. In recent years, she had been given the privilege and recognition by her peers, friends, and family-as a “Living Legend” (2006-2007) in the 2006 issue of the magazine My Buddy Notes: Creative Voices of the African American Presence, published in her hometown of Washington, D.C; -invited to be a “woman of Wisdom” for the 2006-2007 Spelman College Oral History Project “Their Memories, Our Treasure: Conversations with African American Woman of Wisdom;-2006 “invited by the Oba(king) of Oshogboland, in Nigeria (West Africa) to be conferred with an honorary chieftaincy title “in recognition of her love of African art and her work with African African art and artists. In August 2005, she received the great honor of being Enstooled as a Queenmother in the West African county of Ghana (where she hoped to work with the establishment of libraries and the training of librarians for small communities). Her Ghanaian name is Queenmother Abena Amoah I.

In August 2006 she was honored on the occasion of her 70th birthday by family and friends, many from the international community, for her life accomplishments and contributions. Proclamations were given from the Georgia State Senate by Senator Vincent Fort, and from the Atlanta City Council by Councilwoman Cleta Winslow. In October 2006, the “Louise Willingham Archives” was established at the Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta, Georgia. The archives of her writings and other personal papers have been deposited in the library for future use by students, researchers, and scholars. In December 2005, a PatriClan of her family DNA was traced through the “African Ancestry” database at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The test revealed a 100% match with the Igbo people of Nigeria. Ms. Willingham became a member of First AME on March 30, 2003 under the stewardship of her dear Aunt(in-law) Ms. Mary Margaret Cofer. She is the mother of two sons-Roland Joseph Brown Jr. and Leo Martin Willingham, Jr.; three granddaughters-tonie, Asha, and alexis; and a very special niece Andrea Peyton and her two children Britney and Nyle. On December 25, 2009 Queenmother Abena Amoah I was united in a traditional Royal Asante Marriage Blessing to Chief Oduro Sarfo Kantanka, II also of Ghana (West Africa). They planned to be Bi-continental, living 6 months in Atlanta and 6 months in Ghana. Ms. Willingham was a two-time cancer survivor. She gave all praises for her life and her accomplishments to almighty God.

(Taken from funeral program)