Dr. William B. Colley

Dr. William B. Colley is a scholar, educator, and social observer whose work explores the intersections of race, faith, and democracy in modern America. Drawing on decades of experience in academia and ministry, his voice bridges history with contemporary insight, inviting readers to question, reflect, and renew their civic and moral commitments.

Born into the turbulence and hope of the Civil Rights era, Dr. Colley’s story begins quite literally in the crowd of the historic 1963 March on Washington. His mother, five months pregnant, stood among the thousands gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, fighting for justice—and protecting the child who would one day carry that same spirit of truth-telling forward.

Throughout his youth in Washington, D.C., he was shaped by relatives who challenged him to look deeper at history, spirituality, and identity. Two uncles, in particular, instilled formative lessons: that the stories we inherit are not always the stories that reflect our truth, and that questioning accepted narratives is both a personal and political act.

Dr. Colley’s intellectual path sharpened during his years at Virginia Union University, an HBCU where a white English professor reintroduced him to Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. That encounter deepened his awareness of how literature exposes the hidden frameworks of race and power—and inspired a decades-long commitment to research, reflection, and writing.

Alongside his academic journey, Dr. Colley’s most cherished role has been fatherhood, marked by the births of his children in 1990, 1995, 1997, and his twin daughters in 2006. Their lives and futures fuel his dedication to truth, justice, and the unearthing of narratives buried beneath societal comfort.

After more than sixty years of “running,” in his words, Dr. Colley has chosen to sit, study, and speak with renewed clarity. His debut book, The Cracker Jar: The Shattering of a Fragile Democracy; The Unearthing of Our Souls (2025), is the culmination of a lifetime spent observing the fractures—and possibilities—within American democracy. Through his writing and public engagement, he invites readers to relearn, unlearn, and confront the fallacies that obscure our collective truth.

Dr. Colley continues his mission to illuminate, challenge, and inspire those ready to rethink the stories that shape our nation and themselves.

"Black people have become black peoples’ worst enemy, as we self-discriminate without accounting for root causes, root cause analysis, of our situation as a darker people in America. It comes with a great deal of baggage that the United States would rather us carry it on our backs for life than unpack it.”

Dr. William B. Colley: The Cracker Jar (Chapter 4)

Key moments that shaped my journey as a writer

Discover the milestones that shaped Dr. William B. Colley's story.
1963 August 28

A Witness to the March on Washington (Before Birth)

I was there in the mist of the Historic march on Washington—for Jobs, freedom, and civil rights for all. Somewhere on the Mall, in front of the Lincoln Memorial. My mother as shared with me some facts about that day — how she and her classmates took the public transportation to the mall — and somewhere in the ruckus and jockeying for position, she had been struck in the belly by a police officer, who she vehemently cursed until she had to flee. She was around 5 or six months pregnant with me; she had left my order sister “Peaches” home with my grandmother, and she could not afford to get arrested, so she ran: gently consoling her baby boy incubating in her belly, me, Dr. Will Colley. That same struggle still exists, and fortuitously, I am still at the center of it, our cry for liberation, while our only liberation is “Truth”.
1970s

Early Lessons in Identity and Truth

Early in my middle years, I had two culturally conscientious uncles: one told me that Jesus was Black along with many other affluent historical figures who passed for white; the other uncle told me that the one on his right and the one on his left were anarchists, not a thief or a murderer. Both comments have haunted me all my life.
1984-1987

Awakening as a Writer at Virginia Union University

I attended Virginia Union University, a small liberal arts HBCU, where my Caucasian English professor, Dr. Richard Ready, introduced me to the nuances of a book I had previously read as a boy in my grandparents basement library on 19th street, N.E. WDC—‘The Invisible Man’ by Ralph Ellison—where the main character, nameless, black young man, carried a letter of introduction and recommendation (that he was forbidden to open and read himself); he could only pass the letter to White prospects needed to secure employment—it read “…keep this Niger boy running”. After 60 years of running I have decided to sit down, research, write, publish, and speak truth to those who want to relearn, unlearn, and learn about how our world fallacies hide our Truth.
1990, 1995, 1997, 2006

Color me “Father”

My children were born. In bad weather and good weather.
2025 December

Published The Cracker Jar

I shared my first book with the world, ‘The Cracker Jar: The Shattering of a fragile Democracy; the Unearthing of our Souls’.