Lillian Steele Proctor

Lillian Steele Proctor Falls (1899-April 3, 1988) was a social worker. Her master's work studying gifted African American children was pioneering in the field. She later became the first African American supervisor of social work in Chicago.

Biography Lillian Steele Proctor was born in 1899 to a prominent African-American Atlanta family. Her father, Reverend Henry H. Proctor was a Congregationalist pastor. Her mother, Adeline L. Davis Proctor founded Atlanta's first public kindergarten. Proctor was one of five children. After the 1906 Atlanta race massacre, Reverend Proctor worked to ease communal tensions. Lillian Proctor attended Fisk University. Lillian Proctor continued to use her maiden last name for professional purposes. The United Charities of Chicago asked her to be the acting superintendent of a district during the absence of its white superintendent. Proctor was the first African American woman in Chicago to hold such a position. She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

In 1931, Proctor took a civil service examination and scored high. She became the supervisor of the Blind Relief Service in the Cook County Bureau of Public Welfare. She later became Chicago's first African-American supervisor of social work. She served as the district supervisor of the Cook County Bureau of Public Welfare. She and Arthur Falls continued to support the development of young African Americans.

Proctor was active in the Chicago community as well. She served as the Community Organization Department director of the Chicago Urban League, lending the position significant credibility. In the early 1950s, the Falls decided to integrate Western Springs, Illinois, leading to a drawn-out legal battle. They were met with violence multiple times, finally sitting on their porch with a shotgun after a friend was almost hit by a brick. They lived in Western Springs until Lillian died on April 3, 1988.