Bill Owens (Massachusetts politician)

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Bill Owens

| birth_name =

| image = 1991 Bill Owens senator Massachusetts.jpg

| caption = Owens in 1991

| birth_date = {{birth date |1937|7|6}}

| birth_place = Demopolis, Alabama

| death_date = {{death date and age |2022|1|22 |1937|7|6}}

| death_place = Boston, Massachusetts

| state_house1 = Massachusetts

| district1 = 10th Suffolk

| term_start1 = 1973

| term_end1 = 1975

| predecessor1 = I. Edward Serlin

| successor1 = Mary H. Goode

| state_senate2 = Massachusetts

| district2 = Second Suffolk

| term_start2 = 1975

| term_end2 = 1983

| preceded2 = Michael LoPresti Jr.

| succeeded2 = Royal L. Bolling

| term_start3 = 1989

| term_end3 = 1993

| preceded3 = Royal L. Bolling

| succeeded3 = Dianne Wilkerson

| party = Democratic

| alma_mater = Boston University
UMass Amherst

| spouse =

| children = 7

}}

William Owens (July 6, 1937 – January 22, 2022) was an American politician and businessman. He was the first Black state senator in the Massachusetts State Senate.{{cite web |website=wbur.org |title=Fact Checking Kennedy And Markey On Their Black Lives Matter Claims |date=July 31, 2020 |url=https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/07/31/ed-markey-joe-kennedy-black-lives-matter}}{{cite web |website=Boston.com |title=Charlotte Golar Richie adding endorsement of Bill Owens, Boston's first black state senator |date=August 29, 2013 |url=https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2013/08/29/charlotte-golar-richie-adding-endorsement-of-bill-owens-bostons-first-black-state-senator}}

Biography

Owens was born in Demopolis, Alabama, on July 6, 1937. He went to the English High School of Boston. Owens also attended Boston University, Harvard University and University of Massachusetts Amherst. Owens was a private consultant and lived in Mattapan, Boston, Massachusetts. Owens served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1973 to 1975 as a Democrat.

Following the creation of a majority-Black State Senate seat in South Boston, he ran for and won the seat, defeating Royal L. Bolling. He then served in the Massachusetts Senate from 1974 to 1982. In the early 80's, Owens changed his party registration to Republican, frustrated with the tightly controlled State Senate and what he viewed as the Democratic Party's slow walk on issues of racial justice and economic equity.{{cite web | url=https://www.baystatebanner.com/2022/02/02/former-state-sen-bill-owens-84/ | title=Former state Sen. Bill Owens, 84 | date=2 February 2022 }} After losing re-election as a Republican to Royal L. Bolling in a rematch, he switched back to the Democratic party and, after defeating Bolling a final time, served in a final stint in the state senate from 1989 to 1993, losing the 1992 Democratic primary to his successor, Dianne Wilkerson.[https://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/data/29973488 State Library of Massachusetts-Bill Owens papers (1989-1992)-biographical Sketch]'Public Officials of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1991-1992,' Massachusetts General Court: 1991, Biographical Sketch of Bill Owens, pg. 70

As a legislator, Owens helped to create the Massachusetts state Office of Minority Business Assistance and the Summer Youth Jobs Program. He supported gun control. In the 1980s, he also "sponsored a bill that would have required state government to pay reparations to Massachusetts descendants of enslaved Black Americans." His sister, Shirley Owens-Hicks, served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1987 to 2006.{{cite web | url=https://www.baystatebanner.com/2022/02/02/former-state-sen-bill-owens-84/ | title=Former state Sen. Bill Owens, 84 | date=2 February 2022 }}

Following a bout of COVID-19, Owens died in his sleep at a Brighton, Boston, nursing facility at age 84.[https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/01/24/metro/bill-owens-first-black-state-senator-massachusetts-dies-84/?outputType=amp "Bill Owens, first Black state senator in Massachusetts, dies at 84"]