Tavis Smiley to Keynote Sold-Out Pasadena NAACP Gala Honoring Civil Rights Pioneer Ruby McKnight Williams

Broadcaster and author Tavis Smiley will deliver the keynote address Saturday night when the NAACP Pasadena Branch holds its sold-out Black Freedom Fund Gala at the Hilton Pasadena, honoring the legacy of Ruby McKnight Williams, the Pasadena civil rights leader who spent more than half a century fighting segregation in the city’s public spaces, schools and housing.

The gala — rebranded this year as the Ruby McKnight Williams Black Freedom Fund Gala — is the first under new branch president Brandon D. Lamar, who won the position in November 2024. The event continues a tradition dating to 1985 that serves as the branch’s primary annual fundraiser and honors Williams’ legacy with awards recognizing community service.

The four-hour event, which runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at 168 South Los Robles Ave., sold out in advance, according to the Eventbrite listing. In addition to Smiley’s keynote, the evening features a youth keynote by Journey Christine, the young actress known for her role as Maya on the Netflix series The Upshaws, and a musical performance by Grammy-nominated R&B singer Angie Fisher, a Pasadena native, according to a promotional flyer for the event.

The gala also includes a Black Business Reception hosted by Octavia’s Bookshelf, the Black-owned independent bookstore on North Hill Avenue in Pasadena that highlights works by authors of color. The bookstore, named after Pasadena-born science fiction author Octavia Butler, opened in 2023 and served as a community hub during the Eaton Fire.

The event was previously known as the Ruby McKnight Williams Awards Dinner. The 35th installment, the most recent before Saturday’s gala, was held March 21, 2024, at Le Méridien Pasadena Arcadia under then-president Allen Edson.

Ruby McKnight Williams, born in Topeka, Kansas, moved to Pasadena in the 1930s intending to work as a teacher. She discovered the city did not hire Black teachers.

“I didn’t see any difference in Pasadena and Mississippi except they were spelled differently,” Williams said, according to a historical account published by A Noise Within.

She joined the Pasadena NAACP and served as branch president for 16 combined years, beginning in 1959. Under her leadership, the branch supported two national precedent-setting civil rights cases and fought to desegregate Brookside Plunge, the city’s public swimming pool, which had restricted people of color to using the facility one day per week. After a decades-long legal battle, the pool fully reopened without racial restrictions in 1947, according to the Pasadena Public Library.

Williams also fought for school and housing desegregation. She served as the first Black board member of the American Red Cross’ Pasadena branch, according to A Noise Within. In 1983, the NAACP named her President Emeritus. She remained active until her death in 1999.

U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff honored Williams in the Congressional Record during Black History Month in 2001, calling her “one of those leaders whose undaunting courage helped shape the society we live in today,” according to the record.

The Pasadena NAACP, established in 1919 as the 16th branch chartered nationally, was founded when a group of citizens answered the call of John Wright to respond to the needs of minority residents in the city, according to the branch’s website. The branch created an award in Williams’ name in 1958 to recognize excellence in community service, and the annual gala began in 1985.

Smiley, the evening’s keynote speaker, is a three-time NAACP Image Award winner who hosted talk shows on PBS and NPR and is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers. He currently hosts a daily radio program on KBLA Talk 1580 AM in Los Angeles. Fisher, the musical guest, is a Pasadena native whose single “I.R.S.” earned a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional R&B Performance in 2015. She has toured and recorded with artists including Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, and Kelly Clarkson.

For more information, contact the NAACP Pasadena Branch at (626) 793-1293 or naacppasadena@gmail.com.