African Americans, especially those from the South but also Northern Blacks, understood the importance of the vote. Once he moved to Buffalo William L. Perry, a native of Kenton, Tennessee, marshalled his new political freedom by becoming an active political volunteer.
He was engaged in the first Negro Voter Registration Drive to register Black voters in 1925. In the early 1930s he worked on the campaign to elect Sherman L. Walker as the first African American elected to the Erie County Board of Supervisors in 1933. Perry was Walker's campaign manager. His political name was "King Fish".
Perry was a member of the Frontier Elks Lodge, Paramount Chapter No. 73 R & AM, Queen Esther H.H. of Ruth and the Knights of Pythias. He was an active member of Trinity Baptist Church.
He and his wife, Daisy, were married for over 50 years. They celebrated their golden anniversary in 1954. The couple had one daughter, Louise Justice Epps.
Perry is buried in Lakeview Cemetery.
