Owens is known in the district as a visionary and a “stand-up-and-fight” legislator. He strongly defends the rights of the disadvantaged, disenfranchised, poor and unempowered, often creating new and untried methods for successful problem solving. He made history as author of the first-in-the-nation State tax check-off, dedicated to providing funds for AIDS research, education, and treatment. Further, he was first in the nation since reconstruction, in a legislative body, to file legislation calling for Reparations for People of African Descent.

Having just been elected to the Senate in 1974 and in response to violent reactions to court-ordered school busing in Boston, Owens made the call and convened the National March Against Racism in Education. It was the largest such march in the history of Boston at the time, attracting many high-profile civil rights leaders, activists, constituents, and constituency groups from across the nation. During that same year, Bill Owens and Reverend Ed Rodman led the negotiations resulting in settlement of the Walpole Prison take-over by its residents. Owens and Rodman facilitated the release of all hostages, while insuring protection of the prisoners’ rights as well.

The Senator Bill Owens who became a legend in his district, throughout the Commonwealth and in other parts of the nation, is the same Bill Owens who initiated his public service career when, as a young father in 1968, he chaired the Concerned Parents of the Gibson School. He organized a walk-out of 33 students, with their parents and six teachers, from the segregated and deliberately under-resourced Gibson Elementary School. These parents formed the Gibson Liberation School to demonstrate how parents could become policy makers and educators of their children. Owens said: “We actively took charge of the education of our children.”

Also prior to elected office, Owens was the administrator of several educational programs and schools:

=> Career Opportunities Program (training urban teachers)
=> Project JESI (Jobs and Education for Self Improvement) where he fostered new opportunities for youngsters who had dropped out of high school
=> Principal, Dorchester-based New School for Children, a parent-managed alternative school for children K-6
=> Education Director, Urban League of Boston

In 1969 Bill Owens was plaintiff in a law suit, Owens vs. Board of Education, which led to district representation on the School Board in Boston, formerly an at-large system only.

In 1970, Owens coordinated Murphy vs. Board of Education, ending corporal punishment and physical abuse of children in public schools.

Owens vs. Board of Education established appeal procedures for students who were forced out of school.

Senator Bill Owens led a delegation from the United States and England to Nigeria to meet with Chief M.K.O. Abiola and president Ibrahim Babangida around the issue of Reparations.

Bill Owens took a solar energy company to Nigeria and promoted renewable energy while living there for nearly two years.

In l971, Owens earned a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University, Graduate School of Education. He has begun doctoral studies at University of Massachusetts at Amherst.