User:Symone07/William s. willis jr.

/William S. Willis Jr.

William S. Willis Jr. was born in Waco, Texas on July 11, 1921, he was the only son of his affluent college-educated parents. He attended segregated schools throughout his youth and after graduating from Booker T. Washington High School, he went to Howard University, where he graduated cum laude in 1942. He majored in history where he was able to study black history and culture. He was committed to anthropology as an academic discipline that could bring "the end of poverty  and powerlessness among colored peoples" through studying the exploitation of these peoples for "the prosperity of white societies". Willis' career is profound for its criticisms of anthropology and the appeal of "scientific antiracism" of Franz Boas and the Boasian school. He expressed admiration for Boas being that he was the "only Jew in anthropology in this country and he was making daring innovations in the world of white Protestant anthropology," Willis also recognized Boas' contributions in extending the concept of cultural conditioning to blacks and whites alike.

Early Work

In 1945, he began graduate school at Columbia University to study political science, he later chose to pursue his studies in anthropology.On why he decided to study anthropology more extensively: "I shifted to anthropology because I assumed that this discipline was the vanguard in the attack against racist thought" (undated, circa 1976,APS). Willis applied to the Ford Foundation for a training fellowship in West African culture and history, in his proposal he said he wanted to focus his project on the "study of the processes of cultural change through time," because he believed historical depth had gone unnoticed by the structural-functional approach of British anthropology. He was most concerned with the ethnohistory of the developing African political systems, predominantly with those in West Africa, especially the Gold Coast and Nigeria. He also wanted to study African women, which was highly unusual at that time. Willis' application was unfortunately denied. Despite his disappointment, he returned to studying Southeastern American Indian relations with African-Americans.

Willis experienced the racist part of anthropology in getting a job since opportunities were minimal for black scholars. From 1955 to 1964, he was only able to get part-time teaching positions at Columbia and City College of New York. During this time he researched Native American culture patterns and black-Indian-white relations among the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creeks, and Seminole. His research resulted in a fascinating perspective of the cultural complexity and diversity of early colonial life in Southeastern United States. In his paper, "Divide and Rule: Red, White, and Black in the Southeast," which was published in the Journal of Negro History in 1963, Willis extensively examined the relationship among African-Americans, whites, and Native Americans who were living closely together in the southeast. In his research, he combined Boasian particularism with a more historical method.

In 1964, he became the first black faculty member at Southern Methodist University, an all-white upper middle class school, in Dallas. Willis was offered a job in the Sociology and Anthropology Department where he felt and wrote that he "was the workhorse of the department" but received the least pay. Because of his popularity, he held the most courses and sections but was not receiving any recognition. At SMU, he felt helpless and isolated from the staff. In 1968, he was invited to the University of Texas at Austin to give a lecture on blacks in American history. He delivered his paper entitled, "Anthropology and Negroes on the Southern Colonial Frontier", which he later published. That same year he was finally promoted to associate professor with a tenure, but his salary remained extremely low- $13,500 in 1970. While at SMU, he and his wife became close friends with Edward B. Jelks and his wife. In Jelks' 1988 book, Dictionary of North American Archaeology he dedicated it to the Willis' memory.

In the fall of 1970, Willis resigned from SMU after learning that his one graduate course had been reduced to an undergraduate course, however he withdrew his resignation after receiving letters of apology from the department head and the dean. He and his wife, Gene, began to think seriously about leaving Dallas due to "black hostility" and the lack of consideration from the faculty at SMU, what he called "white lethargy". In April of 1972, he formally resigned from his position as associate professor.

Later Work

In 1972, he resigned from SMU due to the overt racism he experienced, that same year his article "Skeletons in the Anthropological Closet" was printed in Reinventing Anthropology, which was edited by Dell Hymes. The controversial book wanted to address issues not covered in standard textbooks. Willis argued in his article that anthropology's silence on the white supremacy throughout the world was inconsistent with its tradition of scientific antiracism. He admits that the featured article was written "in bitterness and under considerable strain." Willis exposed and analyzed the "two faces" of anthropology: racism and antiracism. He recognized that racism was always there, yet hidden behind "apolitcal masks" of scholarship that ignored colonialism and racism in the world- the "skeletons in the anthropological closet." He did not want to be identified as a "black anthropologist" because he was committed to integration and was opposed to racism. More than anything, he cherished his identity as an anthropologist.

Related Links


 * http://books.google.com/books?id=PFtwjYqDrOoC&pg=PA243&lpg=PA243&dq=william+s+willis+jr&source=bl&ots=4QgaN9DcOr&sig=TMVB-mvWr5Z6mI-DWmg6k_4wKcM&hl=en&ei=SknVSvbvO5OusgO8quHeAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=william%20s%20willis%20jr&f=false


 * http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~psanday/willis.html


 * http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/a-list/2008-June/071543.html


 * http://www.jstor.org/pss/480695