Kenny J. Williams

Kenny J. Williams
Born(1927-09-04)September 4, 1927
Omaha, Nebraska
DiedDecember 19, 2003(2003-12-19) (aged 76)
Durham, North Carolina
Occupations
  • Academic
  • author
ParentJoseph Harrison Jackson
Academic background
EducationBenedict College (B.A.)
DePaul University (M.A.)
University of Pennsylvania (M.A., PhD)
ThesisAn Evolution of the New Chicago from the Old: A Study of Henry Blake Fuller's Chicago Novels
Academic work
DisciplineMidwestern literature
African American literature
InstitutionsTennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College
Northeastern Illinois University
Duke University

Kenny Jackson Williams (September 4, 1927 – December 19, 2003) was an African American academic and author. She specialized in the study of Midwestern literature and African American literature.

Life and career

Williams was born in Omaha, Nebraska and grew up in Chicago.[1][2] Her father was Joseph Harrison Jackson, president of the National Baptist Convention from 1953 to 1982.[3][4]

Williams received a B.A. (1949) from Benedict College and an M.A. (1950) from DePaul University, both in English. She received a second M.A. (1959) and a PhD (1961) from the University of Pennsylvania, both in American Civilization.[1][5][6] Williams then taught at Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College (1960–64) and Northeastern Illinois University (1964–77). She also served as director of the Joseph H. Jackson Library.[1][5][6]

Beginning in 1977, Williams was a professor in Duke University's English department.[1][6] She was the university's first black professor of English.[7] Williams' areas of specialization included Chicago literature, Sherwood Anderson, and early African American authors such as Phillis Wheatley, Harriet Jacobs, and Paul Laurence Dunbar.[6][8]

In 1986, Williams received the MidAmerica Award from the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature for distinguished contributions to the field.[8][9] She was a member of the executive board of the American Literature Association.[2][10] Williams and James David Barber were founding members of the Duke chapter of the National Association of Scholars, established in 1990.[6][8]

In 1991, Williams was appointed to the National Council on the Humanities by Lynne Cheney under President George H. W. Bush, replacing the failed nomination of Carol Iannone.[6] A New York Times editorial was supportive of Williams' appointment, calling her work "solid and interestingly offbeat".[11]

Williams died in 2003; she had previously been diagnosed with cancer.[9][12] At the time of her death, she was working on a compendium of Civil War-era literature for the Dictionary of Literary Biography series.[1]

Views

Williams was an opponent of affirmative action.[13] In 1990, she spoke out against Duke's proposal to hire one black faculty member per department, saying that these faculty would suffer from the "stigma" that they "weren't really qualified."[6][14] Williams also opposed efforts to add multiculturalism to the literary canon, which she called a "cult of relevance."[6] In a Wall Street Journal interview, she said: "With all due respect to Alice Walker... I want to teach literature that has stood the test of time."[6][14] In another interview, Williams said that some of her colleagues seemed uncomfortable with her choice to study Sherwood Anderson, explaining: "Anderson was a white man, and black female academics are supposed to stick to black affairs."[6]

Williams was known for her exacting spelling and grammar standards for students, assigning low grades for poor writing.[6][14]

Bibliography

As author

  • Williams, Kenny J. (1970). They Also Spoke: An Essay on Negro Literature in America, 1787-1930. Townsend Press. ISBN 9780935990041.
  • Williams, Kenny J. (1980). Prairie Voices: A Literary History of Chicago from the Frontier to 1893. Townsend Press. ISBN 9780935990003.
  • Williams, Kenny J.; Duffey, Bernard I., eds. (1983). Chicago's Public Wits: A Chapter in the American Comic Spirit. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 9780807110430.
  • Williams, Kenny J. (1988). A Storyteller and a City: Sherwood Anderson's Chicago. Northern Illinois University Press. ISBN 9780875801353.

Other

  • Kenny J. Williams (1988). Introduction. Essays: Including Biographies and Miscellaneous Pieces, in Prose and Poetry. By Plato, Ann. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195052473.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Kenny J. Williams papers, 1971-1995 - Archives & Manuscripts at Duke University Libraries". Duke University Libraries. Archived from the original on February 14, 2026. Retrieved August 19, 2026.
  2. 1 2 "Kenny Jackson Williams". Nebraska Authors. Archived from the original on June 21, 2025. Retrieved August 19, 2026.
  3. ↑ "LOST STATUE OF PASTOR FOUND". Chicago Tribune. April 13, 2001. Archived from the original on August 19, 2026. Retrieved August 19, 2026.
  4. ↑ "Reverend J.H. Jackson papers". University of Chicago Library. Archived from the original on January 15, 2025. Retrieved August 19, 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Kenny J. Williams - English, 1976-1977 / Department of African and African American Studies records, 1966-1981 / Duke Digital Repository". Duke University Libraries. Retrieved August 19, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Trueheart, Charles (November 14, 1991). "NEW NOMINEE FOR HUMANITIES PANEL". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 19, 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ↑ "African-American Firsts at Duke University – Celebrating the Past, Charting the Future: Commemorating 50 Years of Black Students at Duke University". Duke University. Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved August 19, 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 "Duke News Briefs, Jan. 9, 2004". Duke University. January 12, 2004. Archived from the original on July 22, 2012. Retrieved August 19, 2026.
  9. 1 2 Collins, Andrew (January 12, 2004). "English professor, 76, dies". Duke Chronicle. Retrieved August 19, 2026.
  10. ↑ "intro.html". California State University, Los Angeles. Archived from the original on August 18, 2024. Retrieved August 19, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Getting It Right at the N.E.H." The New York Times. November 27, 1991. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved August 19, 2026.
  12. ↑ "WILLIAMS, DR. KENNY JACKSON". Chicago Tribune. January 13, 2004. Archived from the original on June 26, 2025. Retrieved August 19, 2026.
  13. ↑ Wilson, John K. (1995). The Myth of Political Correctness: The Conservative Attack on Higher Education. Duke University Press. pp. 139–140. ISBN 9780822317135.
  14. 1 2 3 Rabinowitz, Dorothy (November 13, 1990). "Vive the Academic Resistance". The Wall Street Journal. pp. A22.
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