Our Mission

We are dedicated To empowering and providing support to our print, digital, radio, and television journalists in the Tulsa Metro area.

Our chapter members serve on and participate in domestic and global professional and student chapters. Member service, within our local communities, allows us to consistently reach, support and engage Black journalists and media professionals through meetings, panels, workshops, media institutes and regional conferences. NABJ-Tulsa also offers its members the opportunity to join multiple task forces and committees that align with their professional disciplines and goals.

Mary L. Williams

Mary L. Williams is an artist, poet, and writer. Her art emphasis is on African American History and Virtue Art. She is the founder of Color Me True Destiny Programs. Color Me True (CMT) serves as a community outreach program promoting Art, History, and Life Skills. Williams is grateful for successful collaborations with civic and business leaders as well as local artists and educational institutions. Her networks strengthen her ability to host multicultural events which foster Cross-Cultural dialogue annually under the CMT programming.

Williams is the founder and host of the annual Black Wall Street Art Gala on Historic Greenwood which provides a formal atmosphere for artists to display, discuss, and sell their artworks. She is also the founder of the annual JUNETEENTH salute to the Negro Baseball League with the Tulsa Drillers baseball team.

Her art hero is Henry O. Tanner. Inspired by Tanner’s art and his life, Williams presents an annual Art/Lecture event in memory of Tanner with a discussion on “The Impact of Art on Mental Health.” Williams states, “ Art is an unfolding story of the soul which converts what is unseen into a visible reality.” In collaboration with four artistic friends, she is a visionary and curator of one of the largest Art Murals in Tulsa.

Williams’ sentiment for Art is expressed in the words of Henry O. Tanner who said, “My efforts have been to not only put the Biblical incident in the original setting but at the same time give the human touch which makes the whole world kin and which ever remains the same.”