The imposing two-story Colonial Revival residence of grocer Alex Williams, born a slave in Virginia in 1845, rivaled the houses of his wealthy white neighbors across Greenwood Cemetery, making an architectural statement in this Jim Crow era. Williams put his life savings into his seven-room house, hiring black contractor George Thomas to build the clapboard house with its monumental full-width Ionic porch and two-story pedimented bay on the south side. The porch shelters an off-center entrance, with sidelights and transom, and a balustraded balcony. Williams died within a few years after completion of his dream. In the 1920s and 1930s, the house became a gathering place for Jackson’s black intelligentsia when it was owned by Betty Marino, a teacher at Smith Robertson School (JM35).