Hettie V. Williams will be the next president of the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS), effective January 1. AAIHS was founded in 2014 and aims to foster dialogue about researching, writing, and teaching Black thought and culture. It supports the research of scholars in the field through an array of fellowships, awards, and prizes, including the Pauli Murray Book Prize and the C.L.R. James Research Fellowships.
Dr. Williams is an associate professor of African American history in the department of history and anthropology at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey. Dr. Williams has taught survey courses in U.S. history, western civilization, and upper division courses on the history of African Americans at the university level for more than 15 years. Her teaching and research interests include: African American intellectual history, gender in U.S. history, and race/ethnicity studies.
Dr. Williams is the author of Bury My Heart in a Free Land: Black Women Intellectuals in Modern U.S. History (Praeger, 2017). Two other forthcoming books are A Seat at the Table: Black Women Public Intellectuals in U.S. History and Culture (University Press of Mississippi) and Garden of Opportunity: Black Women and the Civil Rights Movement in New Jersey (Rutgers University Press).
Dr. Williams holds a Ph.D. in history and culture from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.
