Kidada Williams

Faculty Profile

Professor
bb2756@wayne.edu

Department

History

Phone

313-577-2525

Office

3069 Faculty/Administration Building (FAB)

Biography

Kidada E. Williams (here's a bio for introductions) is a historian and professor who researches African Americans' experiences of racist violence. At Wayne State, she teaches African American history, U.S. history and historical research methods.

The earliest proponents of African American history intended their research to reach the broadest possible audience. Williams tries to bridge the gap between academic history and public knowledge through teaching, lectures, media appearances and contributions to platforms like podcasts and documentary films, aiming to educate a broader audience about the historical and ongoing impacts of racist violence.

Williams began this work as a graduate student researching the Underground Railroad in Washtenaw County, Michigan and co-creating a bus tour. She has given talks at a variety of public institutions. She has contributed to NEH Summer Seminars and Institutes and was on the Zinn Education Project's roster of People's Historians, both of which helped K-12 teachers broaden their understandings of U.S. history and develop new strategies for teaching challenging subject matter. She appeared on Skip Gates's PBS award-winning series Reconstruction: America after the Civil War, Nikole Hannah-Jones's "The 1619 Project" series on Hulu and rebroadcast on ABC, NPR's "Morning Edition" and "On Point," WDET's "Detroit Today," and "BackStory with the American History Guys." Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, DAME, Slate and Bridge Magazine. Williams' work contributed to her 2024 election to the Society of American Historians.

Williams is also one of the co-developers of #CharlestonSyllabus, a crowd-sourced project that helped people understand the historical context surrounding the 2015 racial massacre at Charleston's Emanuel AME Church.

Lately, she has been extending her commitment to African American history by sharing her expertise on survivors of anti-Black violence on podcasts, like Scene on Radio's The Land That Has Never Been Yet, Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes, MSNBC's Into America with Trymaine Lee and the Slate Academy history series on Reconstruction. She was the host and co-producer of Seizing Freedom, a podcast docudrama created by Kelly Hardcastle Jones, that covered the epic story of African Americans' fight for freedom during the Civil War and beyond.

Contact

Email is the best way to reach her: kidada.williams@wayne.edu (if you need to arrange book signings, please contact Bloomsbury or email me for direct contact). Williams' existing and emerging commitments don't enable her to fulfill last minute requests or work on demand so please try to plan ahead, include all relevant details and remember that Black History Month and Juneteenth are the same time every year. 😉 

Need a concise bio to introduce her?

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Want the expertise of other historians?

The historical profession, has plenty of experts, including ones on African American history or U.S. history, who can meet your needs. Check out:

History resources for K-12 teachers, parents and general folks

K-12 teachers and parents often ask Williams for accessible resources on the history she teaches. Here is a page with a not exhaustive list of links for teaching and learning African American and U.S. history. The page includes links to lesson plans, primary sources, shows, classes and workshops.

News mentions

Selected publications

Books

Edited books

  • With Chad Williams and Keisha N. Blain, Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial Violence. University of Georgia Press, 2016
  • A portion of the royalties will go to the Lowcountry Ministries Fund to address issues of social justice and economic empowerment in underserved communities in the South Carolina Lowcountry

Articles and chapters

Select public scholarship and appearances

Research Description

Professor Williams's research interests include African American History, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the Black Freedom Struggle, and African Americans in the US collective memory. She is currently researching a new book on the impact of nightriding violence on African American families during Reconstruction.

Affiliated Departments

Tags