williams was born in millwood, new york. she is the daughter of music teachers helen l. (née tinch) and milton augustine williams, jr. a dna test revealed that her ancestry is 23% from ghana, 17% from the british isles, 15% from cameroon, 12% finnish, 11% southern european, 7% togo, 6% benin, 5% senegal and 4% portuguese. her parents, put on her birth announcement "here she is: miss america"