Chad Williams

Chad Williams is the Tomorrow Foundation Chair of American Intellectual History and Professor of History and African American and Black Diaspora Studies at Boston University. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in History from Princeton University. His research focuses on African American and modern U.S. history, African diasporic intellectual history, and the intellectual foundations of Black Studies and pan-Africanism. He is the author of The Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World (2023) and Torchbearers of Democracy (2011), both critically acclaimed and award-winning works. He has contributed to major academic journals and op-eds in The Atlantic, New York Times, and others.

His current projects include exploring the significance of Black Studies and a history of pan-Africanism tied to Nnamdi Azikiwe and Kwame Nkrumah. Williams has received prestigious fellowships from institutions like Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute and ACLS. His awards include the 2011 Liberty Legacy Foundation Award and the Stone Book Award nomination.

He advises on academic initiatives and has co-edited volumes like the Charleston Syllabus. His work bridges historical scholarship with contemporary debates on race and diaspora, reflecting a commitment to public intellectualism.