Professor of Black Studies has essays published on African American History

NEW PALTZ — A. J. Williams-Myers, professor of Black Studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz, has recently published his essays focusing on the African American in the history of New York in a new book titled, On the Morning Tide: African Americans, History and Methodology in the Historical Ebb and Flow of Hudson River Society.

On the Morning Tide (Africa World Press, Inc., Trenton, N.J.) brings together essays that illuminate the history and culture of Africans in the Hudson Valley from the days of the Dutch settlement to contemporary times. Using an array of primary and secondary sources, including diary and oral recordings, the author argues for a more inclusive history, one that contains a substantially improved image of the African American community.

“Professor William-Myers’ engrossing essays continue his vital and groundbreaking work of bringing to light the African experience in New York in the colonial and post-Revolutionary periods,” said Christopher Ehret, professor of history at the University of California at Los Angeles. “His stories teach lively lessons, and they remind us, as well, of a too-often neglected insight, that African Americans were active participants in the history of nearly all parts of the early Republic.”

Williams-Myers is the former executive director of the New York African American Institute and holds a Ph. D. in African history from UCLA. His previous publications are Destructive Impulses: An Examination of an American Secret in Race Relations — White Violence (1995) and Long Hammering (AWP, 1994).