16 | MARCH 3 • 2022 

B

lack life in America 
and Jewish life in 
America are both 
Angelique Power’s life. Raised 
on Chicago’s south side by 
a white Jewish mother who 
was a schoolteacher and a 
Black father who was a police 
officer, Angelique developed 
a perspective that fuels her 
passion for racial equity and 
social justice to this day. 
Who she is and how she 
moves through the world have 
uniquely positioned her for 
her role as president and CEO 
of The Skillman Foundation. 
The diversity-driven and 
inclusion-minded private 
Detroit youth philanthropy 
works to strengthen K-12 
education, afterschool 
learning opportunities, and 
college and career pathways in 
Detroit.
“My job is to move 
obstacles away and let young 

people lead us to where they 
need to go,” she says. 
Over the years, Angelique 
has spent a lot of time 
studying and reflecting on her 
family history. While much 
has been written about her 
parents, Vernon B. Williams 
III and Mikie Williams, she 
says a little-known fact is 
that her paternal grandfather, 
Vernon B. Williams Jr., 
was one of the first African 
American scholars to earn a 
master’s degree in education 
from the University of 
Chicago in the 1930s. At the 
time, he also researched and 
wrote about how Judaism was 
the main religion for many 
Black people in different parts 
of Africa and an important 
part of Black history.
“My grandfather learned 
Hebrew in the 1940s and 
’50s,” Power says. “When my 
father was young, they would 

Our
Moment

OUR COMMUNITY

SEAN POWER

The Skillman Foundation’s 
Angelique Power on being 
a Black Jewish change 
agent in Detroit.

ROBIN SCHWARTZ 
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

TOP: Angelique Power in 
front of a wall of family pho-
tographs. Behind her, to the 
right, are her grandfather, 
Vernon B. Williams Jr., and 
parents Vernon B. Williams 
III and Mikie Williams.

