Caroline Williams

Caroline Randall Williams is a multi-talented author, poet, activist, and academic from Nashville, Tennessee. Born on August 24, 1987, she is a Harvard University graduate with an MFA in creative writing from the University of Mississippi.123

Professional Background:

• Writer-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University in the Department of Medicine, Health, and Society since Fall 201913
• Award-winning author of multiple books, including:
  • Soul Food Love (co-authored with her mother Alice Randall)
  • Lucy Negro Redux (a poetry collection)
  • The Diary of B.B. Bright, Possible Princess

Notable Achievements:

• Named one of "50 People Changing the South" by Southern Living1
• Included in The Root 100 list of most influential African Americans2
• Taught public school in Mississippi through Teach for America12

Family and Heritage: She comes from a remarkable lineage, being the great-granddaughter of Arna Bontemps (a Harlem Renaissance poet) and granddaughter of Avon Williams, a key Nashville civil rights lawyer. Williams is known for her powerful writing on race, identity, and social justice, including a viral New York Times op-ed about Confederate history and her own complex family background.3

As a public intellectual and performance artist, she speaks extensively across the United States, bringing fierce intelligence and disarming charm to discussions about art, scholarship, and social change.1