Project Jukebox Survey
Help us redesign the Project Jukebox website by taking a very short survey!
William "Spud" Williams
William "Spud" Williams is an Athabascan who was born in Seattle to Alaska Native parents and moved to Nenana when he was two years old. He moved to Fairbanks to finish high school and attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He worked for the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as working in the construction industry, before starting his own business in appliance repairs and sales. He then went on to work for the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC). Throughout the years, Spud was involved in a number of Native political issues and organizations in the Interior, including the Native land claims movement and passage of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANSCA), the Fairbanks Native Association (FNA), and Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC). He worked for FNA on the pipeline employment program, was an executive board member at TCC for eight years, worked for TCC in the Native Services department eventually becoming Native Services director, and in 1978 was elected president of TCC.