Riles, Wilson C.

Wilson Camanza Riles was identified in a May 5, 1983 newspaper article as one of the most distinguished Northern Arizona University graduates in the history of the institution. That would be quite an accomplishment for any person under normal circumstances, but considering the era in which his achievements were attained, for Dr. Riles, an Afro-American, it was an extraordinary accomplishment.

Wilson Riles was born on June 27, 1917 in Alexandria, Louisiana in a rural sawmill camp, and was an only child. His mother died when he was 9, and his father, who worked as a foreman in the turpentine camp, died when Wilson was 12. His church raised money to send him to New Orleans to attend McDonogh High School. While there, he lived with a friend of his father's, attended school, and worked on a milk truck for $2.50 a day. During Summers, he went back to Alexandria and worked in the turpentine camps to earn money to buy his clothes for the next school year.

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