Chancellor Williams
Chancellor Williams was an influential African American educator, historian, and author, born on December 22, 1898, in Bennettsville, South Carolina. He dedicated his life to education, earning degrees from Howard University and American University, and held various teaching positions, including a significant tenure at Howard University. Williams's career also included work for the U.S. government during World War II, where he served in roles related to statistics and economics. His scholarly endeavors took him to Africa in the late 1950s, where he conducted extensive research on pre-colonial African history, uncovering social and cultural trends that contrasted with European perspectives.
His most notable work, "The Destruction of Black Civilization," spans over six millennia of African history and seeks to address the current state of African Americans by emphasizing pride and self-reliance. In this book, he proposes the establishment of a national council to unify African Americans based on ancient African principles. While his ideas were met with both praise and controversy, they contributed significantly to discussions around African American identity and heritage. Williams's contributions to education and scholarship were recognized with several awards throughout his life. He passed away on December 7, 1992, in Washington, D.C.
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Subject Terms
Chancellor Williams
- Born: December 22, 1898
- Birthplace: Bennettsville, South Carolina
- Died: December 7, 1992
- Place of death: Washington, D.C.
Biography
Chancellor Williams was born on December 22, 1898, in Bennettsville, South Carolina. He attended Howard University, where he received his B.A. in 1930 and his M.A. in 1935. He did postgraduate work at both the University of Chicago and the University of Iowa from 1935 until 1941, and he received his Ph.D. from American University in 1949.
Williams’s love of education took him down a lifelong path of teaching, which began in 1935 when he served as the principal at Cheltenham School for Boys for two years. He began teaching in the Washington, D.C., public school system in 1939 and remained there until 1941. In 1941, Williams began working for the government, holding various positions, including section chief of the U.S. Census Bureau, statistician for the War Relocation Board, and economist in the Office of Price Administration. In 1946, however, Williams returned to the field of education and to Howard University, where he was an an instructor in social science and a professor of history. Williams also was a visiting resident scholar at Oxford University and the University of London from 1953 through 1954. In the late 1950’s, he moved to Ghana, where he conducted field research, and he continued his work in Africa throughout the early 1960’s.
While in Africa, Williams studied early African history, learning about events that occurred before Europeans and Asians came into contact with the continent. Through his analysis of more than one hundred African language groups, he discovered trends in social mores and customs that occurred throughout the continent. These commonalities revealed ideas about nationalism, government foundations, and an individual’s civil rights and land ownership which differed from European concepts. From these ancient African ideas, Williams developed a concept to reinvent and revive contemporary African American culture, and this concept was published in his acclaimed work, The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D.
The Destruction of Black Civilization is an exploration of more than six thousand years of African history. Williams uses this historical background to explain the position of contemporary African Americans and introduces his ideas aimed at redefining and rejuvenating the lives of black people. The book argues that a national council of leaders must be created that would adhere to the ancient African principles he discovered in his research. This council would unite African Americans, and as a result, inspire and empower Africa. The book was praised for its thoroughness and impeccable research, but its proposals to reform African American life were deemed controversial and unobtainable. However, most people agreed with the book’s core message of African American pride and self-reliance.
Williams received a Rosenwald Fellowship in 1931; a Book Award from the Black Academy of Arts and Letters in 1971 for The Destruction of Black Civilization; and the Clarence L. Hotle International Biennial Prize from the Twenty-First Century Foundation in 1979 for his contribution to African American heritage. He died on December 7, 1992, in a nursing home in Washington, D.C.