Mary Luana Williams
| Mary Luana Williams | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 13, 1967 |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Lulu Williams |
| Occupation | Author; activist; National Park Service Ranger |
| Known for | The Lost Daughter: A Memoir |
| Parent(s) | Randy and Mary Williams |
| Relatives | Adoptive mother: Jane Fonda Adoptive siblings: Vanessa Vadim Troy Garity |
Mary Luana Williams (born October 13, 1967) is an American social activist and writer who penned The Lost Daughter: A Memoir about her life. The memoir details being adopted by Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden in her adolescence, as well as growing up as a daughter of Black Panthers before Fonda adopted her. Mary works with Sudanese refugees through the organization she founded, the Lost Boys Foundation.
Mary Luana "Lulu" Williams was born on October 13, 1967, the fifth daughter to Randy and Mary Williams. Both of her parents were Black Panthers in the Black Power civil rights movement, an organization dedicated to stopping police brutality toward African-Americans, and helping those who lacked employment, education, and healthcare. The family lived at the heart of the movement in East Oakland, California, during the height of the Vietnam War, Race riots and Civil Rights Movement, in an era Williams would later describe as "violent and frenzied". Mary's father Randy was a captain within the Panthers militaristic hierarchy and participated in the controversial Armed Citizens' Patrol, where Panthers would tail police and patrol neighborhoods, ready to defend any blacks they saw being threatened by police. In April 1970, Williams' father and other Panthers witnessed several police officers arresting four black marijuana suspects and they intervened, ambushing and wounding three of the officers before fleeing. Thirty patrol cars pursued them on a high speed car chase while the Panthers tried to discourage pursuit by throwing molotov cocktails. Randy Williams was apprehended, charged with assault with intent to murder and given a seven-year sentence at a Correctional Training Facility near Soledad, California. At the time, Mary was four. Her mother was left to care for Mary and her five siblings, eventually becoming physically abusive while descending into alcoholism. Williams's family further deteriorated when one of her siblings ran away and another turned to street prostitution as well as crack cocaine. Mary and her siblings were signed up for Laurel Springs Children’s Camp, a camp started by Fonda that was located on 160 acres near Santa Monica, California. She got to know Fonda while at the camp, and returned over successive years even when her siblings did not.
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