obtain a Writ Of Mandamus, a type of court order, compelling the election officers to allow the women's registrations. The three women were chosen because, except for their gender, they met the age, income, literacy, property, and respectability requirements for any other voter. Once again Levitt ruled in their favor, allowing qualified women to vote in the 1936 election. Their success led to mobilization to register to vote in Saint Croix and Saint John and led to universal suffrage in 1938. Williams' last post was at Thomas Jefferson Elementary, where she was assigned in 1937. She remained there until her retirement in 1945. She was honored for her service with a commendation from the Legislature of the Virgin Islands in 1974. In 1981, the James Madison Elementary School was renamed as the Edith L. Williams Elementary School in recognition of her service to the Virgin Islands and the following year, she became the first person inducted into the Virgin Islands Education Review Hall of Fame. Death and legacy Williams died on June 9, 1987, in Charlotte Amalie. Often referred to as the "Mother of Education" in the Virgin Islands, according to Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, she is recognized widely not only for her pioneering role in education, but for her community service and her quest to attain suffrage. A statue of Williams was installed in the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Veterans Memorial Park in Charlotte Amalie. Mounted on a pillar, a bust of her upper torso depicts her holding a book in her left hand and a coal pot in the right. It bears the inscription: "Feed not only the body, the mind must also be nourished". References Citations Bibliography 1887 births 1987 deaths People from the Danish West Indies United States Virgin Islands activists African-American feminists African-American suffragists American suffragists 20th-century American educators United States Virgin Islands educators African-American schoolteachers 20th-century American women educators 20th-century African-American women