Home Page About the Archive Introduction Enter Exhibit About John A. Williams link to register Credits
Home Page Archive introduction enter exhibit About John A. Williams Papers credits

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Note: Case 21 contains audio and video clips.
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Case Three

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scanned photo

Williams holding his son Dennis, with his other son, Gregory. 1952.



scanned photo

"SLUGGERS." Photograph of sons Dennis and Gregory. Syracuse, N.Y. 1952.


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scanned photo

Williams with sons Dennis and Gregory. (1957?)



scanned business card
Business Card: "J. Williams / 327 W. 85th St. New York 24, N.Y. / Public Relations / Marketing / Promotion / Advertising." 1955.
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This article appeared in the Syracuse Post-Standard on Sunday, 13 September 1953. At that time Williams was employed as a part-time copywriter for Doug Johnson Associates, a public relations firm.
scanned essay

"THE NEW YORK STATE FAIR," in Flashbacks: A Twenty-Year Diary of Article Writing. Anchor Press (1974).

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scanned letter

JOHNSON, Doug. Typed letter signed to Williams. 3 August 1970.

scanned typescript

"STATE FAIR." Original typescript of article for the Syracuse Post-Standard, with Williams's corrections. 13 September 1953.

scanned bookjacket for unconventional prayers

Printed dust jacket for Unconventional Prayers by Allen A. Stockdale. New York: Comet Press Books (1955). Designed by Williams, with Barbara Koski.

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"This story, offered in the book's first edition, disappeared from the second edition because two or three instructors disliked it and reported that it struck their students speechless with embarrassment. In response to a larger demand from instructors who found teaching it well worth their risk, it is now restored. Emotionally charged, it has a black narrator who makes candid observations of both blacks and whites. We recommend it for assignment only if you know your class well and believe them capable of a free, frank discussion of it. If you use it, why not assign it together with another brief story, just so you'll have something to pass along to in case of paralysis."

From the Instructor's Manual of Little, Brown's third edition of Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (1983), edited by X.J. Kennedy. The story has appeared in many anthologies over the years, most recently in 2004.

scanned magazine cover

"SON IN THE AFTERNOON," in Exodus.
Vol. 2 (Fall 1959).

scanned typescript

"SON IN THE AFTERNOON." Original carbon typescript.

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THE ANGRY ONES (1960)

This was my first novel. I finished it in 1956 in a single-room-occupancy hotel on West 85th Street in New York. It was not published until January, 1960. My original title was One for New York. The first "nibble" came from the then preeminent paperback publishing house, New American Library. One of the editors there, however, told me they were reluctant to publish the book because of southern readers. The novel went through several drafts, at least two of them complete re-writes. One was done in twenty-four hours; the second in Castelldefels, Spain. When it was finally published by Ace Books, the title had been changed - but with my acquiescence - and the entire book had been edited without my knowledge and therefore without any consultation with me. I would not have approved of the cover art had I seen it.


scanned bookjacket for the angry ones

THE ANGRY ONES. New York: Ace Books, 1960. First edition. Signed by Williams. Williams's first regularly published book.

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scanned title page for one for new york

ONE FOR NEW YORK. Chatham, N.J.: The Chatham Bookseller (1975). Reissue of The Angry Ones under the title originally intended by Williams.

scanned book jacket for the angry ones

THE ANGRY ONES. New York: Pocket Books, 1970.

scanned bookjacket for the angry ones

THE ANGRY ONES. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. (1996).

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