Maria P. Williams was a Kansas City schoolteacher who entered the political arena in the 1890s as a lecturer who traveled through the state of Kansas giving speeches for political candidates and delivering lectures on the "topics of the day." From 1891 to 1894, she was editor-in-chief of a weekly newspaper in Kansas City, Kansas called, the "New Era." From 1896 to 1900 or so, she edited and published a newspaper, the "Women's Voice," sponsored by the "colored women's auxiliary" of the Republican party; the paper was described as having "many pleasant things to say on a choice of timely topics." After permanently settling in Kansas City, Missouri, she involved herself in a number of civic activities. In 1916, she published a short pamphlet describing her life and discussing her political and social views entitled "My Work and Public Sentiment." In 1923, Williams wrote, produced, and acted in the five reel crime drama, "The Flames of Wrath," and to distribute the picture, she formed the Western Film Producing Company and Booking Exchange owned by her and husband, Jesse L. Williams, who owned a number of businesses in and around Kansas City. Mr. Williams died later that year and Maria soon remarried. She appears to have involved herself in other endeavors, which may have led to her untimely end. In January of 1932, she was called away from her home by a stranger who requested help for his sick brother. She was found shot to death on the side of a road several miles from her home. The murder remains unsolved.
