William M. King

William M. King taught Black Studies at The University of Colorado Boulder for 40 years, from 1972-2012, and has the honor of being CU's longest serving Black professor. Dr. King was Director of Black Studies twice, from 1974-75 and again from 1982-1986, and was also Publications Unit Director for the CU Boulder Center for Studies of Ethnicity and Race in America (CSERA). When the Department of Ethnic Studies was created, he did "two tours," (as he likes to say) as Associate Chair of the department, from 2002-2005 and again from 2007-2010. He wrote the first proposal for the Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies in 1994. During his time at CU Boulder, Dr. King was a founding member of, and the person who named the National Council for Black Studies, eventually serving as its national chairman. The organization’s mandate, “Education should engender both academic excellence and social responsibility,” is an idea in which Professor King strongly believes and models in his own life, as community work was a part of what he did as a professor of Black Studies. Throughout his career, Professor King sought to teach students the richness and complex texture of Black heritage as it had come to be defined by scholars in Black Studies. 

In 1974, Dr. King was a principal author of shaping the courses offered in Black Studies into a major so that students enrolled in the program might work toward completion of a Bachelor of Arts degree. He designed several new courses for the major including the intro course, research methods & practicum course, and the senior seminar reflecting a synopsis of students' progressive learning through the Black Studies curriculum. In addition, he proposed and developed a number of other content courses in history and the social sciences that he also taught over the years, including: "Black Religious Life in America," "The Life and Times of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.," "The Civil Rights Movement," "Black America and the War in Vietnam," "Race, Class and Gender," "The Afroamerican Scientist and Inventor," "The Black West," "Black Community Development," “The Sixties: Critical Black Views,” “Contemporary Black Protest Movements,” and “Black Social and Political Thought." In fact, our own CU Regent, Wanda James, was one of Professor King's students in "Black Social and Political Thought." In a 2016 Denver Post article about Professor King, James was quoted, saying, “Most of the professors I had, they could walk into my house today and I wouldn’t know who they were. But Dr. King — he was so important to us. He helped establish our integrity and who we would become.”

In 1987, the Black Studies program became part of CSERA, and in 1997, both Black Studies and CSERA became part of the newly created Department of Ethnic Studies, comprised of programs in (formerly named) Afroamerican Studies, (formerly named) American Indian Studies, Asian America Studies, and (formerly named) Chicano/a Studies. Professor King served as coordinator of Afroamerican Studies in the new Department of Ethnic Studies, and when he retired, he was Professor emeritus of Afroamerican Studies. He has left a lasting legacy. The innovations Dr. King implemented in his time at CU Boulder continue to benefit the faculty, staff, and students in the Department of Ethnic Studies today, and the department is truly grateful. 

Professor King was honored by the National Council for Black Studies in 2001, "For Your Important Contributions in Enabling the National Council for Black Studies to Establish itself as a Premier Professional Organization," and received the Best Should Teach Award from the CU Boulder Graduate School in 2005. He was given the "Paul Robeson & Zora Neale Hurston Celebrated Elder Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service in the Promotion of African Humanity" from the National Council for Black Studies in 2012, and the same year was awarded "Professor and Esteemed Colleague of Black Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder for 40 Years of Excellent Scholarship, Teaching, and Service, 1972-2012" by the CU Boulder Department of Ethnic Studies. 

Selected Publications

Books

"…Of our new day begun" The National Council for Black Studies: It's Origins and Early Years—A Memoir (Under review)

How to Write Research Papers: A Guide for the Insecure. (Boulder, CO: Center for Studies of Ethnicity and Race in America), 1991

Going to Meet A Man: Denver's Last Legal Public Execution, 27 July 1886. (Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado), 1990.

Book Chapters

"'So They Say': The World War II Colorado Statesman Columns of Lieutenant Earl W. Mann," in Arturo Aldama, Elisa Facio. Daryl Maeda, and Reiland Rabaka, Editors, Telling Our Stories: Ethnic Histories and Cultures of Colorado, University of Colorado Press, 2011, pp 195-218.

"’Bloods’: Teaching the Afroamerican Experience of the Vietnam Conflict," in Michael Zeitlin and Paul Budra, eds., Soldier Talk: The Vietnam War in Oral Narrative. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004, pp 183-96.

"The Importance of Black Studies for Science and Technology Policy," reprinted in Nathaniel Norment, Jr., ed., The African American Studies Reader. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2001, 653-59. Previously published in Phylon, XLIX, 1, 2 (Spring/Summer 1992), 23-32.

"The Early Years of Three Major Professional Black Studies Organizations." In Delores P. Aldredge and Carlene Young, eds., Out of the Revolution: The Development of Africana Studies. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2000, 115-32.

"Triumphs of Tribalism: The American University as a Reflection of Eurocentric Culture." In Benjamin P. Bowser, Terry Jones, and Gale S. Aulletta, eds., Toward the Multicultural University. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1995, 21-39.

"W.E.B. Du Bois: Scholar, Activist, Prophet and Symbol," Missouri Chautauqua: Visions of America. St. Louis: Missouri Humanities Council, 1995 16-23.

"Reconfiguring Reality: Transcending the Quest for Cultural Homogeneity." In Charles E. Butler, ed., New Directions for African American Scholarship and Research: Colorizing The "Canon." Proceedings of the National Research Conference on African American Studies, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 19-21 November 1992, 54-61.

“The meaning of the Ghetto Riots of 1964-1967: Selected Explanations with Criticism.” In William M King, How to Write Research Papers: a guide for the insecure. Boulder, CO: Center for Studies of Ethnicity and Race in America, 1991, 55-79.

Refereed Articles

"Speaking out for Self: The Black Struggle to Regain the Right to Vote in Territorial Colorado. 1864-1867". Online in Colorado History. (April 2025)

"Creating Opportunities to Train the Mind: Public Schooling for Afroamericans in Territorial Denver, Colorado, 1861-1873," Colorado History, 15 (2008), 19-51.

“Doing Du Bois—Summering on The Heartland Chautauqua Trail.” Umoja: A Scholarly Journal of Ethnic Studies, I, 2 (Fall 2002). 

“Enhancing Scientific and Technical Literacy in Afroamerican Communities.” Umoja: A Scholarly Journal of Ethnic Studies, I, 1 (Spring 2000).

"Hubert Branch Crouch and the Origins of the National Institute of Science." The Journal of Negro History, LXXIX, 1 (Winter 1994), 18-33.

"The Importance of Black Studies for Science and Technology Policy," Phylon, XLIX, 1, 2 (Spring/Summer 1992), 23-32.

"Challenges Across the Curriculum: Broadening the Bases of How Knowledge is Produced," American Behavioral Scientist, 34, 2 (November/December 1990), 165-80.

"Our Men in Vietnam': Black Media as a Source of the Afroamerican Experience in Southeast Asia," Vietnam Generation, 1,2 (Spring 1989), 94-117.

"The Afroamerican Scientist and Inventor: A Bibliographic Resource," Journal of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 33, 3 (Summer 1987), 177-92.

"The Reemerging Revolutionary Consciousness of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1965-1968," Journal of Negro History, LXXI, 1, 2, 3, 4 (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall 1986), 1-22.

"Guardian of the Public Safety: Garret A. Morgan and the Lake Erie Crib Disaster," Journal of Negro History, LXX, 1, 2 (Winter/Spring 1985), 1-13.

"Black Children, White Law: Black Efforts to Secure Public Education in Central City, Colorado, 1864-1869," Essays and Monographs in Colorado History, (1984), 55-80.

"The End of An Era: Denver's Last Legal Public Execution, July 27, 1886," Journal of Negro History, LXVIII, 1 (Winter 1983), 37-53.

"With All Deliberate Speed: Old Wine in a New Bottle,"UMOJA: A Scholarly Journal of Black Studies, n.s., III, 3 (Fall 1979), 157-74.

With Mariyawanda Nzuwah, "Afroamericans and U.S. Policy Towards Africa: An Overview," Journal of Southern African Affairs, II, 2 (April 1977), 235-44.

"Another Side of the Black Studies Debacle: A Response with Some Comments, "Review of Black Political Economy, 6, 2 (Winter 1976), 232-38.

"Social Science Investigation: Some Questions from a Black Perspective, "UMOJA, o.s., I, 3 (Fall/Spring 1973/74), 44-49.

"Black Studies Challenge the Myths," Colorado Quarterly, XXII, 2 (Autumn 1973), 169-78.

Essays & Creative Writing

"The Long Hot Summers, Forty Years Later," H-Urban Discussion List, 25 July 2007.

"Jackson State College: The Lost Episode in Antiwar Protest," Vietnam Generation, 6, 1-2 (1994), 29.

"What Do We Want?" Vietnam Generation, 4, 3-4 (Summer-Fall 1992), 83-85.

"What's in A Name?" New Odyssey, I, 1 (Spring 1992), 7-8.

"A Firebell in the Night," Vietnam Generation Newsletter, 3, 3 (November 1991), 25-27.

"Death of the Dreamer," Ibid, 2, 3 (May 1991), 18-19.

"The Black Family: Some Thoughts on an Afroamerican Social Institution," Odyssey West, 8, 1 (January/February 1989), 31-32.

"Curriculum Reform--Not Bussing: The Hidden Issue in School Desegregation," Ibid, 7, 3 (May/June 1988), 31-32.

"Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize: The Years Since Memphis," Ibid, 7, 1 (January/February 1988), 26-27.

"Blacks and the U.S. Constitution, "Ibid, 6, 5 (September/October 1987), 28-29.

"Reflections on a Talk by Martin Luther King, Jr." Ibid, 6, 1 (January/February 1987), 16-17, 35.

"What Manner of Man?" Denver City Blues, 15 January 1986.

"Reflections on a Merger: EAS/STS," Science, Technology & Society Newsletter, 43 (September 1984), 10-11.

"Technology and the Afroamerican," Expressions, I, 2 (Spring 1982), 24-28.

"A Time for Black Renewal," Colorado Daily, 29, 283, (24 February 1981), 3.

"Black History Month: On Its Significance," KGNU Program Guide (February 1981), 3.

"From Behind the Veil," Weekly Column, Denver Weekly News, 29 January 1981 to May 1982.  Totals about 50 columns each about 800 words on personalities, events, opinions, et al.

"We Must Insure the Quest for Achievement," Kappa Alpha Psi Journal, LXIV, 4 (December 1978), 258-59.

"Deficiencies in the Public Schools: A Response," Denver Post, (2 October 1977), 24.

"On Achieving Equality in Education: An Exercise in Grasping the Wind," Coloradan, LXXVII (1975), 56-57.