Today In Black History: Dr. Chancellor Williams
Historian, educator, and sociologist focused on promoting true African history
Issue #801 Today In Black History, Wednesday, February 5, 2025
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Dr. Chancellor Williams was born on December 22, 1893, in Bennettsville, South Carolina. His father had been born into slavery and had grown up to gain freedom and voting rights after the American Civil War. His mother, Dorothy Ann Williams, worked as a cook, nurse, and evangelist.
Williams' curiosity about racial inequality and cultural struggles began in fifth grade. Encouraged by a sixth-grade teacher, he sold The Crisis, published by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The Williams family moved to Washington, DC, in 1910. His father hoped for more opportunities there, especially in education, and Williams graduated from Armstrong Technical High School.
Williams earned his undergraduate degree from Howard University, then pursued graduate studies at American University, earning his Master's degree and a Ph.D. from the American University in 1949.
He also studied abroad as a visiting research scholar at the University of Oxford in England and the University of London.
Williams worked at several institutions, including Howard University, where he became a central figure in African American studies. He focused on pre-colonial African civilizations.
Dr. Williams remained a staunch believer that African historians should do independent research and investigations so that the history of African people will be told and understood from their perspective.
Perhaps his most notable contribution to the field of history was his groundbreaking 1971 book, “The Destruction of Black Civilization.” This work sought to challenge the prevailing narratives about Africa's past, particularly the misconceptions and biases perpetuated by Eurocentric perspectives.
In The Destruction of Black Civilization, Williams meticulously documents how internal and external forces contributed to the decline of great African civilizations. He emphasizes the need for African and African-American people to reclaim and rebuild their history and cultural identity. The book received widespread acclaim and became a cornerstone of African studies, inspiring generations of historians, students, and activists.
A little-known fact about Williams is that he was president of a baking company, editor of the newsletter The New Challenge, an economist, a high school teacher and principal, and a novelist, in addition to being a historian and a professor.
Dr. Chancellor Williams died of respiratory failure on December 7, 1992, aged 98, at Providence Hospital in Washington, DC.
Today In Black History
In 1866, Congressman Thaddeus Stevens offered an amendment to the Freedmen’s Bureau bill that would authorize the distribution of public land and confiscated land to freedmen in forty-acre lots. The House defeated the measure by a vote of 126-37.
In 1884, Black inventor Willis Johnson patented the wire whisk egg beater for mixing recipe ingredients.
In 1885, King Leopold II of Belgium established the Congo as a personal colonial possession.
In 1958, Dr. Clifton R. Wharton, Sr. was confirmed as the minister to Romania, becoming the first Black person to head a U.S. Embassy in Europe.
In 1972, Bob Douglas became the first African American elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
In 1990, Columbia University graduate and Harvard University Law School student Barack Obama became the first African American named the Harvard Law Review president.
In 1994, white. Supremacist Byron de la Beckwith was convicted of the 1963 murder of Mississippi NAACP Field Secretary Medgar Evers.
In 2008, Senator Barack Obama won 13 states on “Super Tuesday.”
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Pamela, thanks for this insightful post, as always. I am acquainted with Dr. Chancellor and, indeed, have his book on Black civilization in Africa.