Wilson Riles (1917-1999)
When Wilson Riles (1917-1999) was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1970, he became the first African American elected to statewide office in California history. Riles managed to overcome the hardships of growing up as an orphan in Jim Crow Louisiana, became a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse on an Apache reservation in Arizona and later moved to California in the 1950s. He eventually went to work for the California Department of Education administering fair employment practices, administering a multimillion-dollar program to assist underprivileged students and was eventually made deputy superintendent in charge of special education. Riles’ victory in 1970 against the incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Max Rafferty was described by the New York Times as “one of the most stunning upsets in California's political history.” Riles won reelection twice, and during his three consecutive terms in office introduced the Early Childhood Education plan (intended to improve math, reading and writing skills) and the School Improvement Program (with the goal of increasing parent participation in classroom matters). In 1973 Riles became the 58th recipient of the NAACP’s Springarn Medal.
