Author Gregory Howard Williams to Share Insight in First FYE Event of Year

Gregory Howard Williams, president of the City College of New York and author, will lead a lecture and discussion on campus Wednesday, Sept. 20. His talk is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. in Gannett Auditorium of Palamountain Hall. The College's First-Year Experience is sponsoring the event, which is free and open to the public.

Born in 1943, Williams underwent a significant period of racial turmoil in his childhood, detailed in his memoir Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black (New York: Plume 1996). At a pivotal moment in his adolescence Williams discovered that his presumptions of being white, growing up in segregated Virginia, were changed radically by a move to Muncie, Ind., when he discovered that his father's family was black.

As his father had struggled to overcome significant obstacles to go to college at Howard University, although he never graduated, so Williams was encouraged to cultivate a passion for education and knowledge. Williams graduated from Ball State University and received J.D. and Ph.D. degrees from George Washington University, during which time he worked as an aide to a United States senator. In addition to his five earned degrees, Williams has received three honorary doctorates.

Life on the Color Line was the summer reading selection for Skidmore's Class of 2010 and has been the foundation for classroom discussions since the academic year started.