Michael Paul Williams

Richmond

Columnist at Richmond Times-Dispatch

Columnist @RTDNEWS. @RNPA_union. @VAUnion1865 @NorthwesternU @MedillSchool. 2000 Harvard University Nieman Fellow. 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

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Articles

Black history is a lesson in labor

2 months ago | richmond.com | Michael Paul Williams

An artifact of a $10 Confederate States of American note printed in Richmond vividly illustrates the undeniable role that Black workers played in building American wealth. The paper currency features an engraving of an enslaved Black man picking cotton. Above the note is a painting of the man on the money by artist John W. Jones, from his “Confederate Currency: The Color of Money” series.
Reflections on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the 1890 Scholars Program

Jan 17, 2025 | usda.gov | Michael Paul Williams

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s aura in my childhood home was so pervasive that you would have thought he was a member of our family. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s aura in my childhood home was so pervasive that you would have thought he was a member of our family. My mother, who’d been born on our family farm in Mississippi and later raised in Chicago, came to age at the height of the 1960 Civil Rights movement and understood the period in a way that history books never fully explain.
Richmond celebrates its local businesses on a day of their own

Nov 30, 2024 | richmond.com | Michael Paul Williams

The symbiotic relationship between Richmond’s small businesses and the community was on full display during Small Business Saturday in Carytown. The Clementine consignment shop was raffling gift cards to neighboring businesses such as Mongrel and Sugar & Twine. Its Carytown sister stores, Ashby and Clover, were conducting similar offerings. “We try to do something every Small Business Saturday,” said assistant manager Lyndsey Martin.
RVA 100: Richmond Times-Dispatch, 175 years of covering Virginia news

Nov 6, 2024 | richmond.com | Michael Paul Williams

About this seriesThis will be the last installation of the RVA 100 series. For 100 days, we’ve been highlighting the people, places and objects that define the Richmond region. The Richmond Times-Dispatch turns 175 years old next year. In honor of that achievement and legacy, we thought it only fitting to include the Richmond Times-Dispatch in the series. Thank you for following along with the RVA 100.
RVA 100: Ebenezer Baptist Church, founded by free and enslaved Black people in 1800s

Oct 22, 2024 | richmond.com | Michael Paul Williams

About this seriesThis story is the latest installment of RVA100, our series that highlights the people, places and objects that define the Richmond region. We’re exploring hidden histories and colorful backstories. Some will be familiar. Others you may learn about for the first time. For 100 days, we’ll showcase a different quintessential Richmond icon in the newspaper and at richmond.com.
RVA 100: Richmond's Confederate monuments

Oct 21, 2024 | richmond.com | Michael Paul Williams

About this seriesThis story is the latest installment of RVA100, our series that highlights the people, places and objects that define the Richmond region. We’re exploring hidden histories and colorful backstories. Some will be familiar. Others you may learn about for the first time. For 100 days, we’ll showcase a different quintessential Richmond icon in the newspaper and at richmond.com. The six-story monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E.
Win, place, fashion show: Racehorses and clothes horses meet at the Virginia Derby

Sep 7, 2024 | richmond.com | Michael Paul Williams

Polly Watts, who’ll be getting married in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in January, spent Friday sipping wine at Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards and Merrie Mill Farm & Vineyard. But nothing screams “bachelorette party!” like a trip to the racetrack to lay down some bets. So Watts and a dozen family members and besties from North Carolina’s Crystal Coast pointed their party bus east from Albemarle County for Saturday’s Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs.
Man slain on Broad Rock Boulevard

Sep 7, 2024 | richmond.com | Michael Paul Williams

Richmond police are investigating a homicide in the 1700 block of Broad Rock Boulevard early Saturday morning. Officers, responding to a report of a shooting around 12:41 a.m., found the man lying on the ground with an apparent gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts Anyone with information about this homicide is asked to call Major Crimes Detective W.
Williams: Now is no time for Stoney silence

Aug 6, 2024 | richmond.com | Michael Paul Williams

The cozy and conflict-ridden relationship between City Hall and a Florida-based advertising and consulting company demands an explanation — not the sound of crickets chirping in the 900 block of East Broad Street. According to reporting by The Times-Dispatch's Samuel Parker, Cameus Chicoye's firm has been the recipient of more than $340,000 in city business.
Williams: George Mason typifies the folly of the war on DEI

Aug 1, 2024 | richmond.com | Michael Paul Williams

George Mason University's diversity, equity and inclusion web page celebrates a school where at least 80 languages are spoken by a student body representing more than 130 countries. Students of color make up 40% of its enrollment. The Fairfax school boasts the most diverse campus in Virginia. But Gov. Glenn Youngkin has board of visitors members — a sizable chunk of them affiliated with The Heritage Foundation — who view diversity as a curse rather than a blessing.