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.

After graduating from high school, he moved to Flagstaff where he had relatives working in the sawmills. His foster parents were Leon J. and Narvia Bryant. He enrolled in Arizona State Teacher's College (re-named Northern Arizona University in 1966) in September of 1936 and was its first Afro-American student. While a student, he worked at various jobs to afford the tuition. In 1939 he also served as union secretary of Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union No. 2772, and was active in the negotiations which culminated in a 40% pay raise for the workers. Riles graduated from Arizona State Teacher's College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in education in 1940, and began his career teaching Afro-American children in a 1-room school in a logging camp near McNary, Arizona with a salary of $900.00 a year.

In 1941, he met and married Louise Phillips, the daughter of a Phoenix dentist. He and Louise had both obtained their teaching degrees from ASTC and they began teaching at Dunbar School for Blacks in Flagstaff, which had been built in 1926 when Arizona mandated segregation of Blacks and Whites. (It was named after the prominent Black author, Paul Lawrence Dunbar.) While they were teaching at Dunbar, Wilson was continuing his education at Arizona State Teacher's College working toward his Master's Degree in School Administration. He entered the Air Force in 1944 and served 3 years. Upon returning home to Flagstaff, he resumed the pursuit of his Master's Degree which he completed in 1947, and then was hired as teacher/principal at Dunbar School. He was also active in civic affairs including being spokesman for the Booker T. Washington subdivision on Flagstaff's south side (occupied by about 100 Black families) to have the city install urgently needed sewage collection lines.

On May 17, 1954, when legislators passed the Civil Rights Act, making segregation illegal, the Dunbar School was closed and students were integrated into other Flagstaff schools. Wilson then accepted a position as Executive Secretary of the Pacific Coast region of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (a religious peace organization) and he and Louise and their four children (Michael, Narvia, Wilson, and Phillip) moved to California.

In 1958, Wilson Riles was named to an important post with the California Department of Education, and in 1965 he was named Associate Superintendent of Public Instruction for California (4.5 million students) to direct the organization and administration of a $100 million Compensatory Education Program which became a model for similar programs throughout the nation. He initiated Early Childhood Education and Special Education Programs. Northern Arizona University honored Riles in 1968 with the distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. In 1969, he served in an appointive office as deputy superintendent for programs and legislation in the California Department of Public Instruction. In 1970 he was elected to the post of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, becoming the first Black man to win a major California political post. He was reelected 2 more times and served in the post for a total of 12 years during which time he was also a member of the California Board of Regents. Wilson was active at the national level as Chairman of the United States Office of Education Task Force on Urban Education and was appointed to this post three times by three different U.S. Presidents. He received the highest award of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People when the Springarn Medal was presented to him in 1973. Northern Arizona University again honored Riles in 1975 when he was presented with his alma mater's Distinguished Alumni Honoree medallion, and again in 1976 when Riles had conferred upon him an honorary doctor of laws degree. (Dr. Riles had also received 7 other honorary doctorates from universities in California and elsewhere in the country.) In 1978 he received the Robert M. Hutchins Award for Significant contributions to education. In 1979 he was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. He returned to Northern Arizona University in 1983 to deliver the commencement address at graduation, and in 1986 a campus building at Northern Arizona University was named in his honor.

After leaving public office in 1982, he started a educational consulting and management service in Sacramento. Mr. Riles died in 1999.

From the guide to the Wilson and Louise Riles Collection, 1948-1953., (Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives Department.)