Josette Williams
Very much like one of her Ridgefield role models, Alice Paul, Josette Williams has a lifetime of accomplishments due to her love of travel, history, activism, and journalism.
Never giving up on her causes, Williams is still researching and producing valuable information on World War II and also working to get suffragist Alice Paul the recognition she deserves.
Williams was born in Tokyo, Japan, to an American mother and a Canadian father, Richard Hubert, who worked for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. His working in shipping gave him expertise in business. He also learned to speak multiple languages. Hubert became involved in intelligence work and was able to obtain sensitive information that was later used by U.S. leaders and intelligence sources during World War II.
To date the best information on the real impact of the Japanese on the world between 1931 and 1945 has been published by Werner Gruhl in his book Imperial Japan’s World War II: 1931-1945.
Williams has added to this in an article, “The Information War in the Pacific, 1945,” published in 2002 in Studies in Intelligence, the Journal of the American Intelligence Professional.
The article is based on detailed notes taken by her father and articles that he had written but that had never been published.
“What is happening today in our world with ISIS is so similar to some of the philosophies and strategies that were used by the Japanese at the time of Asian Pacific War,” Williams said.
“We need to look closely at what happened in the Pacific so that we can make better decisions and defend our country today.
“Our high school and college students need more information on religious wars and wars fought on the inside, as they are our voters and the people who will be serving in our wars. Our students need to know that the facts are growing and that some are calling the Asian Pacific war the Japanese holocaust, with over 700 million people being destroyed in numerous countries over a period of 14 years.
“Today in our schools we cover Pearl Harbor, the internment of the Japanese, the Battle of Midway and the atomic bomb, but where is the equally important information on Shanghai, Nanking, and Manila? We have a growing population of Asians whose ancestors were victims of imperial Japan and need to have their history told as well.”
Honors for suffragist Paul
In addition to changing the focus in regard to the war in the Pacific, Ms. Williams is also hard at work writing letters to key legislators in her fight to get approval for the Equal Rights Amendment and to obtain a Congressional Gold Medal for Paul.
“We have made inroads into these two areas but there now seem to be roadblocks based on deadlines not met and lack of funding. I am constantly writing to get confirmation on status and will not give up until I get satisfaction.”
In 1921, Paul penned the Equal Rights Amendment, guaranteeing equal treatment for the sexes, and, beginning in 1923, the ERA was introduced into every session of Congress till 1972, when it was finally passed and sent to the states. Only 35 of the needed 38 legislatures ratified it, and the congressional approval expired, so the ERA is once again being submitted annually to Congress.
In May 1934, Congress passed a law granting the right of citizenship to children not born in the United States but with an American-born mother. Until then a child needed to have an American father to have the right of citizenship. Alice Paul was the singular motivator of that legislation, Williams said, and that law would have a personal impact on the Williams family.
Both Josette and her sister were born in Japan, of a Canadian father and American mother. Her sister was born in 1929 and Josette in August 1934, just three months after the passage of the Act of May 24, 1934. When the family tried to move from Canada to the United States in 1944, her sister was deemed an enemy alien due to her Japanese birthdate but Josette was considered a citizen.
Josette wrote: “Moving to the U.S. from Canada in 1944, we were held at the border for four hours while the decision was made in Washington as to whether my obviously Caucasian sister, age 14, would be sent alone to live in the (unconstitutional) Japanese internment camps on the West Coast for the duration of the war. She was allowed into Connecticut under special FBI permit and later became a naturalized American citizen, but it took a U.S. president’s personal signature to accomplish that — only the second one issued by the president. Because of Alice Paul, women can now pass their U.S. citizenship on to their children even if they are not born in the United States.”
As a reporter Williams obtained an interview with Alice Paul while Paul was in her 90s and living in the Altnacraig nursing home on High Ridge. She spoke to Williams after she learned that she was an activist like herself and had something to offer in regard to women’s rights, history and politics. Williams’ interview with Paul was published in The Bridgeport Sunday Post on July 17, 1997.
Ridgebury history
Williams is also very interested in local history, especially the Ridgebury area of town during the Revolutionary period. “I have done extensive research on 18 men who fought in the war and were eventually buried in the Ridgebury Cemetery. Each man’s story is so different. Many stories are very difficult to read because of all the tragedies in their lives. There is so much history in this cemetery and all others.”
With such a passion and knowledge for each of her projects, Williams would love to visit high school or college classrooms to share her expertise and start a discussion on what really happened during these various periods. History repeats itself, and the more one sees the patterns, the better one will become at decision making for the future, she feels.
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