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John A. Williams papers

 Collection
Identifier: D.293

Biographical / Historical note

Born December 5, 1925, in Jackson, Mississippi, and raised in Syracuse, New York, writer, novelist, librettist, poet, playwright, and educator, John Alfred Williams is best known for his novel The Man Who Cried I Am, published by Little, Brown & Co. in 1967. A prolific writer, Williams authored twelve novels, eight non-fiction books, and one poetical work as well as a self-published book of poetry, one libretto, two dramas, and numerous articles, essays, short stories, introductions, and afterwards. Williams' writing typically reflects the African American experience, often drawing elements from his own personal life, and has been widely excerpted and anthologized. Williams died on July 3, 2015 in Paramus, NJ.



CHRONOLOGY

1925: Williams is born in Jackson, Mississippi, to Ola May Jones Williams [Page] and John Henry Williams, the first of four children.

1926 -1943: From six months of age, Williams is raised in Syracuse, New York, in the Fifteenth Ward. He attends Washington Irving Elementary, Madison Junior High, and Central High School.

1943: Enlists in the United States Navy, pharmacist's mate 3/C, and, during World War II, serves in the South Pacific from 1943 to 1946, when Williams receives an honorable discharge.

1946: Finishes high school and enrolls at Syracuse University. Begins doing general reporting and features, which continues until 1955, for publications such as The Progressive Herald, Post-Standard and Herald-Journal, Syracuse, New York; The Chicago Defender, Pittsburgh Courier, Los Angeles Tribune, and New York Village Voice. Writes Book Reviews in sources cited above as well as The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, New York Times, Essence, American Visions, Fiction International, Quarterly Black Review, Multicultural Review, and Small Press Review from 1946 to 1993.

1947: Marries Carolyn Clopton in Syracuse, New York.

1948: First son, Gregory D. Williams, is born.

1950: Receives Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Journalism from Syracuse University and begins graduate school.



1951: Second son, Dennis A. Williams, is born. Williams holds positions in foundry and supermarket.



1952: Begins work as caseworker at the Onondaga County Welfare Department.



1953: Self-publishes Poems in Syracuse, New York.



1954: Williams and Carolyn Clopton separate. Moves to California, where Williams' works at the life insurance company Gold State Mutual, as well as for CBS and NBC-TV publicity special events.* Moves to New York City.



1955: Works for Columbia Broadcasting System for special events programs. Becomes Publicity Director for Comet Books Press. Completes first and second drafts of The Angry Ones.*



1956: Edits and publishes the Negro Market Newsletter until 1957.



1957: Divorces Carolyn Clopton. Becomes Assistant to the Publisher at Abelard-Schuman until 1958. Becomes Director of Information for the American Committee on Africa, where he writes press releases and arranges press conferences for Kwame Nkrumah, Joost de Blank, Eduardo Mondlane, Tom Mboya, and Nmadi Azikwe.



1958: Based in Barcelona, reports on touring black entertainers and events of interest to African-American readers for Jet Magazine, Ebony, and the Associated Negro Press.



1959: Covers special events and personalities in studio or via remote for WOV Radio New York.



1960: One for New York (also known as The Angry Ones) is published by Ace Books. Organizes rally in Madison Square Garden for The National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy.



1961: Night Song is published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.



1962: Prix de Rome controversy, in which Williams' nomination for the Fellowship was rejected by the American Academy in Rome, documented by Williams in his essay, "We Regret to Inform You"; receives grant from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Edits The Angry Black, published by Lancer Books.



1963: Sissie is published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Africa: Her History, Lands & People is published by Cooper Square Press. Writes pieces on politics and race in the United States and Europe for Holiday Magazine until 1966. Acts as Contributing Editor at Herald-Tribune Book Week until 1965.



1964: The Protectors, written for Harry Anslinger, is published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. On Special Assignment in Israel, Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Zaire for Newsweek.



1965: Marries Lorrain Isaac on October 5th. This Is My Country Too is published by New American Library/World. Writes and narrates WNET's Omowale: The Child Returns Home on location in Nigeria.



1966: Co-producer/writer/narrator of WNET's The Creative Person: Henry Roth, on location in Spain.



1967: Third son, Adam J. Williams, is born. The Man Who Cried I Am is published by Little, Brown & Co. Edits Beyond the Angry Black, published by Cooper Square Press. Sweet Love, Bitter, adapted from Night Song, is made into a film by Film 2 Associates.



1968: Lecturer in Creative/Article Writing at the City College of New York, City University of New York, and Lecturer in Literature at the College of the Virgin Islands. Weekly interviewer of newsmakers on "Newsfront," including Erskine Caldwell, Muhammud Ali, and Eldridge Cleaver, for WNET Television (PBS).



1969: Sons of Darkness, Sons of Light is published by Little, Brown & Co.



1970: The King God Didn't Save: Martin Luther King, Jr. is published by Coward McCann. The Most Native of Sons: Richard Wright is published by Doubleday. Co-edits Amistad 1, published by Random House, with Charles Harris. Awarded the Centennial Medal For Outstanding Achievement from Syracuse University. Visiting Professor at Macalester College. Serves on the Editorial Board of Audience Magazine.



1971: Co-edits Amistad 2, published by Random House, with Charles Harris. Visits Grenada, West Indies, for the first time.*



1972: Captain Blackman is published by Doubleday. Regents Lecturer at the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1972, and Guest Writer at Sarah Lawrence College during the 1972-1973 academic year. Works as Contributing Editor at The American Journal until 1974.



1973: Flashbacks: A 20-Year Diary of Article Writing is published by Doubleday. Receives The Richard Wright-Jacques Roumain Award. Distinguished Professor at LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York from 1973 to 1979.



1974: Distinguished Visiting Professor at Cooper Union during the 1974-1975 academic year. Visiting Professor at the University of Hawaii during the Summer semester.



1975: Mothersill and the Foxes is published by Doubleday. Minorities in the City is published by Harper & Row.



1976: The Junior Bachelor Society is published by Doubleday.



1977: Works as Contributing Editor at Politicks. Awarded Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment For The Arts.



1978: Awarded Honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Southeastern Massachusetts University. Visiting Professor at Boston University during the 1978-1979 academic year. Williams is contributing Editor for Y'bird #2, an Ishmael Reed/Al Young publication.



1979: Accepts position as Professor at Rutgers University.



1980: Works as Contributing Editor at the Journal of African Civilizations until 1988. Visits Grenada under new government and takes first trip to Kenya.*



1981: Last Flight From Ambo Ber is presented by Peoples Theater in Boston. The Sophisticated Gents mini-series, adapted from The Junior Bachelor Society, airs on NBC-TV.



1983: Last Flight From Ambo Ber is published by the American Association for Ethiopian Jews. Receives an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation for!Click Song. Becomes United State Observer at the 23rd Premio Casa Awards in Santiago, Cuba.



1985: The Berhama Account is published by New Horizon Press, and the first edition of Introduction to Literature, co-edited with Gilbert Muller, is published by McGraw-Hill. Receives the New Jersey State Council On The Arts Award.



1986: Exxon Visiting Professor at New York University during the 1986-1987 academic year.



1987: Jacob's Ladder is published by Thunder's Mouth Press. Frequently writes opinion pieces on all topics for The Los Angeles Times until 1989. Receives Distinguished Writer Award from the Middle Atlantic Writers Association and the "Michael Award" from the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. John A. Williams Archive established at the University of Rochester, and John A. Williams: An Exhibition is held at UR from November 1987 to April 1988. Williams' mother, Ola Page, dies.



1988: February 2 proclaimed as John Williams Day in the City of Syracuse, New York. Receives Citation from the City of Philadelphia. John A. Williams Archive Exhibit held at Syracuse University.



1989: Receives Carter G. Woodson Award from Mercy College. John A. Williams Archive Exhibit held at Rutgers University.



1990: Becomes Paul Robeson Professor of English at Rutgers University. Williams' father, John Henry Williams, dies.



1991: If I Stop I'll Die: The Comedy and Tragedy of Richard Pryor is published by Thunder's Mouth Press. August Forty-five is presented by Rutgers University.



1992: Way B(l)ack Then and Now: A Street Guide to African Americans in Paris, first edition, co-edited with Michel Fabre, is published by CEAA in Paris.



1994: Retires from Rutgers University. Bridges: Literature Across Cultures and Ways In: Approaches to Literature, both co-edited with Gilbert Muller, and Introduction to Literature, second edition, co-edited with Gilbert Muller, are published by McGraw-Hill. Visiting Professor at Bard College during 1994-95 academic year. Visiting Professor at the University of Houston.



1995: Receives Doctor of Letters from Syracuse University.



1996: Second edition of A Street Guide to African Americans in Paris, co-edited with Michel Fabre, is published by CEAA in Paris.



1998: Safari West is published by Hochelaga Press. Inducted into the National Literary Hall of Fame. Receives American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation forSafari West.



1999: Clifford's Blues is published by Coffee House Press. Vanqui libretto, commissioned by Opera Columbus and composed by Leslie Burrs, is performed in Columbus, Ohio, on October 15, 1999. Honored as the namesake of the John A. Williams Lecture at Rutgers University.



2001: Awarded Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the State University of New York at Old Westbury.



2003: John A. Williams Archive Exhibit held at the University of Rochester. Awarded Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Rochester.



2015: John A. Williams dies Friday, July 3, 2015 in Paramus, N.J. at age 89 years. http://www.library.rochester.edu/news/remembering-john-a-williams.



.

* Portion adapted from Gilbert Muller's John A. Williams Chronology.

Scope and Contents

The John A. Williams collection consists of 187 boxes and 2 oversized folders of Williams' personal papers, including 51 boxes of correspondence, 90 boxes of manuscript and printed material by Williams, 14 boxes of works by other authors, 6 boxes of printed material and ephemera, 4 boxes of financial, legal, medical and personal documents and materials, 10 boxes of ephemera and memorabilia, and 4 boxes and 2 folder of oversize ephemera. There are also some fifteen boxes of audiovisual items, including interviews, readings, performances, and home movies.



The majority of the collection consists of materials related to Williams' personal life and career as a writer, editor, and journalist after 1950, though some items can be found from before this period, such as correspondence and photographs.



Items of particular interest to researchers include: correspondence from well-known writers and celebrities including Chester Himes, Ishmael Reed, Gwendolyn Brooks, Chinua Achebe, Imamu Amiri Baraka (Le Roi Jones), Henry Roth, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Ruby Dee, Carl Van Vechten and many others, as well as a significant amount of family, publisher, and fan mail correspondence; numerous original typescripts of Williams' novels, non-fiction books, edited and co-edited works, plays, Vanqui libretto, articles, essays, speeches, short stories, and poems; an extensive amount of research materials and ephemera from both published and unpublished works; photographs of Williams, his family and friends, including several original Carl Van Vechten photographs; awards and honors Williams received throughout his writing career; and many personal items, including date books, a well-traveled Smith Corona typewriter, and memorabilia from his world travels and teaching career.



The collection has been organized into twelve series:



Series I: Named correspondence contains 51 boxes of correspondence, divided into sections based on which genre of Williams’ work the correspondence discusses, then filed alphabetically by the last name of the writer. Business, family, and mixed correspondence follows these subseries. Most of the letters are written to John A. Williams. Those written by a well-known writer, someone personally important to Williams, or authors of more than five pieces of correspondence have their own folder. Other writers can be found in alphabetical order by last name in the corresponding miscellaneous folder. In the case where an individual is affiliated with a company or institution and wrote the letter as a representative of that company or institution, the correspondence is filed under the name of the company or institution rather than the individual's name. Fan mail is filed alphabetically by last name under "Fan Mail." When a name appears in more than one entry, the name has been cross-referenced where applicable.



Series II-VI contain manuscript and printed material by Williams, and are further divided by writing format. Each of these series contains manuscripts, typescripts, and printed material authored and edited by Williams. Several draft versions of many works are present, with publisher’s “foul matter,” handwritten notes and edits, and various pieces of ephemera. The materials are organized by title.



Series II: Manuscripts and printed material: Novels (1960-1999) extends through Boxes 52-89. It includes materials from Clifford's Blues, Jacob's Ladder, The Berhama Account, !Click Song, The Junior Bachelor Society (also known as Sophisticated Gents), Mothersill and the Foxes, Captain Blackman, Sons of Darkness, Sons of Light, The Man Who Cried I Am, Sissie, Night Song/Sweet Love, Bitter, and One for New York (The Angry Ones). This series additionally contains a number of scrapbooks of material related to Williams’ novels.



Series III: Manuscripts and printed material: Non-fiction extends through boxes 90-123. It includes material from Williams' works, If I Stop I'll Die: The Comedy and Tragedy of Richard Pryor, Minorities in the City, Flashbacks: A 20-Year Diary of Article Writing, The King God Didn't Save: Reflections on the Life and Death of Martin Luther King, Jr., The Most Native of Sons: Richard Wright, and This Is My Country Too. Also included are three unpublished works by Williams, The Missing Face of Man/The Black People, Reflected in Malcolm: Living in the Time of the X, and Fighting Blacks: African-Americans in the United States Military, 1775 - 1991. Materials for non-fiction works that Williams co-edited are housed in boxes 110-123, and include Amistad (and a sequel), Beyond the Angry Black, Bridges: Literature Across Cultures, various anthologies, A Street Guide to African-Americans in Paris, Ways In: Approaches to Reading and Writing About Literature, and more. This list of titles is not exhaustive, and interested researchers should refer to the Collection Organization for a more detailed inventory.



Series IV: Manuscripts and printed material: Plays, operas, television scripts, and treatments (1960-1999) is housed in boxes 124-129 and contains material from both published and unpublished pieces Williams authored or collaborated on. Notable titles include Last Flight from Ambo Ber, Vanqui, Williams’ best-known opera, and Queenie Pie, an unfinished opera by Duke Ellington on which Williams collaborated with flautist Leslie Burrs. Other scripts by Williams include August Forty-Five and Mack Boston.

Series V: Manuscript and printed material: Poetry (1953, 1972-1991 and undated) are housed in boxes 130-132. In addition to notes, typescripts, drafts, and ephemera about Williams’ two published collections of poetry, Poems (1953) and Safari West (1998), there are also drafts of unpublished poems.



Series VI: Manuscript and printed material: Other writings (1962-1995) is housed in boxes 133-140. This series gathers Williams’ short stories, articles and essays, introductions and afterwards written for other publications, and reviews Williams wrote of other work. The materials are largely just the finished pieces of Williams’ writing (whether article, essay, review, etc.), but some typescripts of early drafts of his short stories are present.



Series VII: Works by other authors, is housed in boxes 141-154. This series contains a variety of manuscript and typescript material filed alphabetically by the author's last name. Items include works sent to John A. Williams for his review and comments; works written about Williams; and others that reflect Williams' interests, both personal and academic.



Series VIII: Printed material and ephemera [1962-2002] (boxes 155-160). This section contains newspaper clippings about Williams, printed material from Williams' public appearances, notebooks, date books, calendars, schedules, printed material from his travels and teaching career, an African American miscellany, and other printed material related to Williams' interests.

Series IX: Financial / Legal / Personal documents and materials (1958 – 1987) is housed in boxes 161-164. This section contains personal contractual records and legal documents, such as book contracts, royalty statements, documents from organizations to which Williams belonged including meeting notes, financial statements, and internal correspondence, identification, membership, and business cards, hotel guest cards, and telegram credit cards. See also Williams’ business correspondence in Series I.



Series X: Ephemera and memorabilia series contains non-printed items, such as photographs, awards, buttons and pins, and Williams’ typewriter.



Series XI: Oversized ephemera contains a variety of oversize printed and non-printed materials, including publisher's foul matter, publicity advertisements, awards and photographs.



Series XII: Audio/visual material contains several formats of recordings of John A Williams and his work, including stagings of his plays (or screenplays based on his written work), video and audio interviews with the author, audio recordings of performances, readings, and interviews, and some family home movies. Most of the original audiovisual items have been reformatted or digitized, and the finding aid reflects the presence of the several versions where extant. Researchers should note that original audiovisual items are not available for play for preservation reasons, and reformatted physical access copies or digital access copies will be made available.

Creator

Dates

  • Creation: 1925-2015

Language of Materials

English

Extent

187 box(es) (187 boxes and 2 oversize folders)

Access

The John A. Williams papers are open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Rare Books Special Collections & Preservation Department prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.

Use

In consultation with a curator, reproductions may be made upon request. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from a curator. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The University of Rochester purchased the John A. Williams Papers on May 9, 1986.

Preferred Citation

[Item title, item date], John A. Williams papers, D.293. Dept. of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation. River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Processing Note

In August 2023, work was done to incorporate the material previously available in the John A. Williams collection database (also previously listed as "Appendices") into this finding aid. All effort has been made to retain all of the information previously available, and item-level information about the authors and content of letters, the subjects of photographs, and more have been incorporated into these records. In addition, a full inventory of the audiovisual material has been conducted and details about these materials added to the finding aid, some for the first time. In th process of clarifying the audiovisual contents of the collection, some boxes towards the end of the arrangement have been renumbered. A full list of old and new box numbers is stored in the control file for staff reference. Researchers with any questions are welcome to please reach out to the consulting archivist.

Related Materials

Title
John A. Williams papers
Status
Completed
Author
Finding aid prepared by Rare Books and Special Collections staff
Date
undated
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • October 2021 - August 2023: Substantial revisions were made to this finding aid in order to clarify organizational structure, to update relevant notes on arrangement and scope and content, to clarify the container list, and to add information from the John A. Williams Correspondence Database, which would not function after certain system updates. Some boxes towards the end of the arrangement, and boxes containing audiovisual material, were renumbered as containers were consolidated or (in the case of AV material) in order to clarify their contents. A correspondence list of old and new box numbers is stored in the control file. Researchers with any questions about the previous arrangement should reach out to the consulting archivist.

Library Details

Part of the Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation Library

Contact:
Rochester NY 14627-0055 USA