Singleton was born Helen Irene Williams on November 27, 1932, in
Philadelphia, to Calvin and Victoria Williams. She spent her childhood in Philadelphia, where her father worked as a chauffeur, while living most of her adult life in Southern California. Growing up with eight siblings, they frequently spent Summer vacations at her grandparents' farm in Virginia. It was because of the segregation she witnessed as a child during those summer trips with her mother that she later became a civil rights activist. "We could feel her exhaustion and the tension in the car," Singleton recalled. "And when we got there, there was always some incident — stores we couldn't go in because it's not the right day for blacks to shop.... It marred the joy of our summer vacations. I carried that with me for a long time." In 1955, while Singleton was a freshman at
Santa Monica College, she married
Robert Singleton in
Monterey, California, where he was stationed at the time in the U. S. Military. Helen Singleton later transferred to
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), alternating college with child-raising, graduating in the year 1974 with a major in
fine arts. She got her
Master of Public Administration in 1985 from
Loyola Marymount University, and then she worked at UCLA developing courses, special programs, and a symposium on the arts and humanities. In 1992, Singleton began working as a consultant for arts groups, including the
California Arts Council, the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the
Missouri Arts Council. She retired in 1999, and lives in
Inglewood, California, with her husband. , she gives talks and speeches about her time as a
Freedom Rider. ==Activism==