As an educator, performance artist, playwright, actor and public servant, Ted Williams III is truly a hyphenate. This man of many talents, who has a profound commitment to education, community service and the arts, has been selected as a 2024 Men of Excellence honoree.
“I’m just honored to be considered among the real movers, shakers, influencers, and community servants who represent the group of men who are being honored this year and have been honored previously,” Williams said.
If there is a mantra or guiding principle that undergirds Williams’s multifaceted career, it’s a quote by a distinguished scholar.
“I think about Dr. Cornel West and his quote, where he says that “justice is what love looks like in public,” Williams told the Chicago Defender.
“So, for me, that sense of love and concern that exists in my heart has to manifest itself in the struggle for justice, and it has to manifest itself in educating and inspiring people.”
His tools of choice? The media arts and education.
Educating and Inspiring: An Important Early Lesson
Presently, Williams is the Chairman of the Social Sciences Department at Kennedy-King College, a role that allows him to shape the minds of future leaders.
His collegiate academic journey began with degrees in Public Policy Studies from the University of Chicago and Rutgers University. Over the years, he has also taught at Wright College and Chicago State University, cultivating a passion for political science among his students.
Beyond the classroom, Williams hosted a weekly news show on WYCC-PBS Television called “The Professors.” He has also provided political commentary for various media outlets, including BET, WGN-TV, NBC-TV, and WVON radio.
But before Williams even stepped foot on a college campus, his most transformative education experience occurred in the fourth grade at Diekman Elementary School in Dolton. It was a lesson taught by an instructor he remembers as Mrs. Gorman. The year was 1984.
“She started talking about the Civil Rights Movement, and I had been sitting in class bored that day. I’ll never forget the day,” he said. “When she started talking about the civil rights movement, I perked up immediately. Because even in fourth grade, I recognized that people had died for me to sit in that seat.”
And because so many in the movement sacrificed their lives for Black students to receive an education, especially in diverse classrooms, it awakened the young Williams to his purpose.
“How dare I not give my best? How dare I not serve?” he said.
Creator and Visionary
Ted Williams III
Speaking of inspiring people through the media arts, one of Williams’s most notable achievements is his work as a playwright and author. He created the productions “1619: The Journey of a People” and “TORN the Musical,” and penned the book “The Way Out: Christianity, Politics, and the Future of the African American Community.”
His production “1619” was acclaimed, receiving funding from the Illinois Arts Council and a nomination for the 2020 August Wilson Award for Best Writing of a Musical by the Black Theater Alliance Awards.
A Philosophy of Service
His approach to life and career is deeply rooted in the belief that with great privilege comes great responsibility. He attributes much of his drive to the influence of his parents and extended family, who instilled in him the values of community service and the pursuit of excellence.
“There really was no question that I would have to do my part to try to use what I had been given,” he said. “I have to help make life better for people in our community, particularly our communities that are suffering so heavily.”
Future Aspirations
Looking ahead, he aims to continue tackling critical social issues through his work. He has received a grant to explore mass incarceration and solitary confinement and is currently working on a new piece addressing these topics.
The idea is to produce artistic content that educates and engages people about issues such as justice and equality. He recently completed a doctoral program exploring how his play “1619” can be used for civic engagement, historical knowledge and personal transformation.
Standing on the shoulders of great men like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Paul Robeson — purveyors of liberation knowledge through education, the performing and oratory arts — Williams is carrying on the tradition.
His work in the arts and education is his vehicle for change, especially for youth of color.
“Our communities directly are dying if we cannot turn the tide on this and get our younger people to understand their civic responsibilities and how much their lives mean to the legacy of African Americans in this country,” he said.
Williams also added, “I will continue to press in these spaces to do everything I can, but we’re pushing more artistic content because I just recognize that after having taught in the classroom for over 20 years, there is nothing more powerful than what we can produce visually through the arts.”
“There’s a Chinese proverb that says, ‘What I hear I forget, what I see I remember, and what I do I understand.'”
“My work is to help people, not just hear what I have to say, but to see what I’m talking about through the arts,” he said.
For More Information
What: The Chicago Defender’s 17th Annual Men of Excellence Ceremony, sponsored by ComEd
When: June 14 at 5:30 p.m.
Where: Tinley Park Convention Center (18451 Convention Center Drive, Tinley Park, IL)
Ticket Information: For Tickets and Tables, please visit www.chicagodefender.com.
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