Williams was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and his family moved to Syracuse, New York. After naval service in World War II, he graduated in 1950 from Syracuse University. He was a journalist for Ebony (his September 1963 Ebony article “Negro In Literature Today” has been singled out for particular praise),[3][4] Jet, and Newsweek magazines.[5]
His novels, which include The Angry Ones (1960) and The Man Who Cried I Am (1967), are mainly about the black experience in white America. The Man Who Cried I Am, a fictionalized account of the life and death of Richard Wright, introduced the King Alfred Plan – a fictional CIA-led scheme supporting an international effort to eliminate people of African descent. This “plan” has since been cited as fact by some members of the Black community and conspiracy theorists.[citation needed] Sons of Darkness, Sons of Light: A Novel of Some Probability (1969) imagines a race war in the United States.[6] The novel begins as a thriller with aspects of detective fiction and spy fiction, before transitioning to apocalyptic fiction at the point when the characters’ revolt begins.[7]