Political scientist Ife Williams traces history of slave revolts
The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., is currently hosting an exhibit by Delaware County Community College Political Science professor Ife Williams, Ph.D.
Williams’ research is being featured in the exhibit “In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World,” an exploration of the enduring history of slavery and colonialism. “In Slavery's Wake” is a global curatorial project that explores, interrogates, and reframes the histories and legacies of slavery, colonialism and freedom on an international scale. The exhibit runs through June 8.
Williams’ contribution is the digital mapping of slave revolts from her project blackslaverevolts.org. Her current project is the mapping of resistance of Africans and African descendants to colonialism segregation from 1944 to 1994. In 2024, Dr. Williams received a $150,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support the project, in which she uses curricular materials that explore the resistance movements led by Africans and their descendants against segregation and colonialism during the second half of the 20th century. Dr. Williams also received a $40,000 faculty research fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies Mellon Foundation for her work on the same project. She integrates her work into her courses at DCCC.
While much is known about the inhumane African transatlantic slave trade that saw thousands of individuals abducted and forcibly relocated to America and South America over several centuries, less is understood about the hundreds of slave uprisings emblematic of the indelible spirit of those captured and sold into servitude.
Williams received her doctorate in Political Science and Government from Clark Atlanta University.
