My True Vision of Poetry

John Alfred Williams (December 5, 1925- July 3, 2015) was an African-American author, journalist, and academic. Williams was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and, after naval service in World War II, graduated in 1950 from Syracuse University. His novels, which include The Angry Ones (1960) and The Man Who Cried I Am (1967) are mainly about the black experience in white America.

In 1970 Williams received the Syracuse University Centennial Medal for Outstanding Achievement, in 1983 his novel !Click Song won the American Book Award, and in 1998 his Safari West won the American Book Award too. On October 16, 2011, he received a Lifetime Achievement award from the American Book Awards. Williams's personal papers, including correspondence and photographs, are archived in the Special Collections Research Center at Syracuse University. He died on July 3, 2015.

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