Thomas Chatterton Williams
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Thomas Chatterton Williams (born March 26, 1981)cite-ref-la-croix-3-0[3] is an American cultural critic and writer.cite-ref-penguin-1-1[1] He is the author of the 2019 book Self-Portrait in Black and White and a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is a visiting professor of the humanities and senior fellow at the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, and a 2022 Guggenheim fellow. Formerly, Williams was a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and an Easy Chair columnist for Harper's Magazine.
Contents
• Career
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Early life and education
Thomas Chatterton Williams was born on March 26, 1981,cite-ref-la-croix-3-1[3] in Newark, New Jersey,cite-ref-npr-4-0[4] to a black father, Clarence Williams, and a white mother, Kathleen.cite-ref-shades-of-meaning-2-1[2]cite-ref-nj-com-5-0[5] Named after the English poet Thomas Chatterton, he was raised in Fanwood, New Jersey,cite-ref-nj-com-5-1[5] and attended Union Catholic Regional High School in Scotch Plains.cite-ref-6[6] Williams graduated from Georgetown University with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. He also completed a master's degree from New York University's Cultural Reporting and Criticism program.cite-ref-penguin-1-2[1]
Career
In 2010, Williams released his first book, Losing My Cool: How a Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture.cite-ref-7[7] The book is a coming-of-age memoir, mirroring Williams's childhood and adolescence in New Jersey to his father's experience in the segregated South.cite-ref-8[8] The book combines Williams's personal history with his analysis of the effect of hip-hop culture on black youth.cite-ref-9[9] In one passage, he describes physically assaulting his high school girlfriend and attributes his actions to the influence of hip hop's "pimpin'" culture.cite-ref-10[10]cite-ref-11[11]
Williams's second book, Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race, was released in 2019.cite-ref-12[12]cite-ref-13[13]cite-ref-14[14] Williams became a 2019 New America Fellowcite-ref-15[15] and a Berlin Prizecite-ref-16[16] recipient.
In 2020, Williams led the effort to write "A Letter on Justice and Open Debate", an open letter in Harper's Magazine signed by 152 public figures. It criticized what the letter argued was a culture of "intolerance of opposing views".cite-ref-17[17]
In January 2024, Williams became a staff writer at The Atlantic.cite-ref-18[18] He is also a visiting professor of the humanities and senior fellow at the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College. He was formerly a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazinecite-ref-19[19] and Harper's Magazine.cite-ref-20[20]
Personal life
Bibliography
• Losing My Cool: How a Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture. The Penguin Press. 2010. ISBN 978-1-59420-263-6.
• Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race. W. W. Norton & Company. 2019. ISBN 978-0-393-60886-1.
• Summer of Our Discontent: The Age of Certainty and the Demise of Discourse. Alfred A. Knopf. 2025. ISBN 978-0-593-53440-3.
References
cite-note-penguin-11. Thomas Chatterton Williams, Penguin Random House author page. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
cite-note-shades-of-meaning-22. citerefwilliams2019Williams, Thomas Chatterton (September 22, 2019). "Shades of Meaning". The New York Times Magazine. pp. 46–51, 56–57.
cite-note-npr-44. ↑ citerefmartin2010Martin, Michel (June 15, 2010). "Father-Son Bond Inspires Memoir Of Love And Reflection". Tell Me More. NPR. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
cite-note-nj-com-55. ↑ citerefwalsh2010Walsh, Jeremy (August 19, 2010). "Fanwood author finds father's voice leads him out of trouble". The Star-Ledger. NJ.com. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
cite-note-77. ↑ citerefmckelvey2010McKelvey, Tara (August 6, 2010). "Nonfiction Chronicle". The New York Times. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
cite-note-88. ↑ "Stepping Away From Race: A Conversation With Thomas Chatterton Williams". Are We Europe. February 7, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
cite-note-1212. ↑ "Self-Portrait in Black and White". W. W. Norton & Company. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
cite-note-1313. ↑ citerefsewell2019Sewell, Summer (October 15, 2019). "Is it time to unlearn race? Thomas Chatterton Williams says yes". The Guardian. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
cite-note-1414. ↑ citereffriedersdorf2019Friedersdorf, Conor (November 5, 2019). "Unraveling Race". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
cite-note-1515. ↑ "Thomas Chatterton Williams". New America. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
cite-note-1616. ↑ "Announcing the 2017–18 Class of Berlin Prize Fellows". American Academy in Berlin. May 10, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
cite-note-1818. ↑ "The Atlantic Announces Christine Emba and Thomas Chatterton Williams as Staff Writers, and Robert Worth as a Contributing Writer". The Atlantic. January 3, 2024. Retrieved June 22, 2025.
cite-note-1919. ↑ citerefsolomon2019Solomon, Andrew (October 14, 2019). "How Moving to France and Having Children Led a Black American to Rethink Race". The New York Times Book Review. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
cite-note-2020. ↑ citerefbeha2020Beha, Christopher (September 10, 2020). "The Letter and Its Discontents". Harper's Magazine. John R. MacArthur. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
cite-note-2121. ↑ citerefwilliams2019Williams, Thomas Chatterton (September 17, 2019). "My Family's Life Inside and Outside America's Racial Categories". The New York Times. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
External links