R. Xach Williams, Ph.D.

R. Xach Williams (he/him/his) is an Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies in the School of Languages, Cultures and Race at Washington State University. Dr. Williams is originally from the Central District neighborhood in Seattle and graduated from Franklin High School. His research focuses on the ways in which material conditions of anti-black racism, segregation, and exclusion affect the development of the Pacific Northwest from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries highlighting the contributions of Black communities to the development of the PNW overtime. He has a forthcoming article on reparations for Chattel Slavery that will be published in the Ethnic Studies Review. His other research interests include race and religion in US culture, the development of Westcoast jazz, Dialectical + Historical Materialism, and political geography.

Education

2019 Ph.D., Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego
Dissertation: “Didn’t It Rain?: Religiosity, Swingin’ Jazz, and Black Community Formations in the Pacific Northwest (1844 – 1967)”

2013 M.A., Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego

2011 B.A., Comparative Ethnic Studies, Washington State University

Select Publications

“Views of race, property, and US Settler Colonialism from the place of Blackness in the Pacific Northwest; or, slavery, Reparations, and the significance of regional perspectives on Blackness,” Ethnic Studies Review. Forthcoming.

Select Public Speaking Engagements

“Black Americans and the Vote: US Democracy, Allyship, & the Significance of Participation,” Chapman & Cutler Corporate Black History Month Event. Chicago, IL. February 2022.

“Remembering Dr. King and honoring his legacy in US society,” Rivian Corporate MLK Day Celebration. Irvine, CA. January 2022.

“Million Dollar Hoodz: Mapping the Human and Fiscal Cost of Mass Incarceration in Los Angeles,” Panel Presentation by Dr. Kelly Lytle Hernandez. UCSD Ethnic Studies Department 30th Anniversary Event. January 2021.