Heather A. Williams Explained

Alma Mater:	Saint Ann's School Harvard College Harvard Law School
Occupation:	Professor
Employer:	University of Pennsylvania
Notable Works:	Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom Help Me to Find My People: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery
Presidential Professor and Professor of Africana Studies

Heather A. Williams is a scholar of African American studies and lawyer. She serves as Presidential Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.^[1]

Heather Andrea Williams moved to the United States from Jamaica when she was 11 years old.^[2] She attended Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn, New York, then Harvard College, graduating in 1978, then earned a J.D. from Harvard in 1981. She practiced law in the public sector, serving as an assistant attorney general and section chief for the State of New York and as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

After teaching history at Saint Ann's School for two years, she earned a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University^[3] in 2002. She was a post-doctoral fellow at Smith College for two years, then taught in the history department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2004 to 2014, when she was named Presidential Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.^[4]

Her book Help Me to Find My People: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery (2012), about ads placed after emancipation to reunify families, was described as "a superbly researched and engaging analysis" by John G. Cox, though Williams's writing was criticized for engaging "only very slightly with extant scholarship".^[5]

Works

• Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom (University of North Carolina Press, 2005)^{[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]}
• Help Me to Find My People: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery (University of North Carolina Press, 2012)^{[13] [14] [15]}
• American Slavery: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, forthcoming)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Heather A. Williams Africana Studies. africana.sas.upenn.edu. University of Pennsylvania. 3 April 2017.
2. News: Historian to join Africana Studies department as a Presidential Professor. Feiner. Lauren. May 10, 2014. The Daily Pennsylvanian. 2018-07-06. en-us.
3. Web site: Heather Williams: " 'What I Came to Say': Writing Help Me to Find My People" Department of African American Studies. afamstudies.yale.edu. 2017-08-25.
4. Web site: Heather Williams Appointed Sixth Presidential Professor at Penn. Mott. Amanda. April 30, 2014. news.upenn.edu. 2017-08-25.
5. Cox . David G. . Help Me to Find My People: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery . American Nineteenth Century History . 2 January 2014 . 15 . 1 . 102–104 . 10.1080/14664658.2014.893096. 144561214 .
6. Ayatey. Shirley A.. 2006. Review of Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom. 4234173. Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 47. 1. 120–124.
7. Bernstein. Robin. 2009-02-21. Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom (review). Southern Cultures. 15. 1. 87–89. 10.1353/scu.0.0047. 149949374 . 1534-1488.
8. Mintz. Steven. 2007-10-02. Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom (review). Civil War History. 53. 1. 94–96. 10.1353/cwh.2007.0022. 1533-6271.
9. Rousmaniere. Kate. 2007-11-01. Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom by Heather Andrea Williams. History of Education Quarterly. 47. 4. 532–534. 10.1111/j.1748-5959.2007.00120.x. 143801231 . 1748-5959.
10. Troupe. Carol. 2006-02-01. Heather Andrea Williams, Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom. Black Theology. 4. 2. 240–242. 10.1179/blt.4.2.l61v08t6t417j560. 144410638 . 1476-9948.
11. King. W.. 2006-04-01. HEATHER ANDREA WILLIAMS. Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom. (John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture.) Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 2005. Pp. xiii, 304. $29.95.. The American Historical Review. 111. 2. 484–485. 10.1086/ahr.111.2.484. 0002-8762.
12. Margo. Robert A.. June 2005. Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom. By Heather Andrea Williams. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Pp xii, 304. $29.95. -. The Journal of Economic History. 65. 2. 590–591. 10.1017/S0022050705290228. 153567180 . 1471-6372.
13. Chakkalakal. Tess. 2014-02-08. Help Me to Find My People: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery by Heather Andrea Williams (review). The Journal of the Civil War Era. 4. 1. 126–129. 10.1353/cwe.2014.0007. 162368817 . 2159-9807.
14. News: 'Help Me to Find My People,' by Heather Andrea Williams. Perry. Imani. 2012-06-29. The New York Times. 2017-08-25. en-US. 0362-4331.
15. Hager. Christopher. 2014-03-04. Help Me to Find My People: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery by Heather Andrea Williams (review). Civil War History. 60. 1. 92–93. 10.1353/cwh.2014.0009. 1533-6271.