William R. Ferris
Professional affiliation
Wilson Center Projects
"A Southern Journey: Interviews and Photographs"
Full Biography
William Ferris is the Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (1997-2001), Ferris has written or edited 10 books and created 15 documentary films. He co-edited the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (1989), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. His books include: Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues (2009), which was translated into French as Les Voix du Mississippi (2013), The Storied South: Voices of Writers and Artists, and The South in Color: A Visual Journal (2016). Ferris curated “I Am a Man”: Civil Rights Photographs in the American South—1960-1970, which opened in the Pavillon Populaire in Montpellier, France, in October, 2018. His most recent publication Voices of Mississippi is a box set published by Dust to Digital in 2018 that contains three CDs of his recordings of blues, gospel and stories, a DVD of his documentary films, and a book. In 2019, Voices of Mississippi received two Grammy Awards for Best Liner Notes and for Best Historical Album.
His honors include the Charles Frankel Prize in the Humanities, the American Library Association's Dartmouth Medal, the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award, and the W.C. Handy Blues Award. In 1991, Rolling Stone magazine named him among the Top Ten Professors in the United States. He is a Fellow of the American Folklore Society. Ferris received the B. L. C. Wailes Award, given to a Mississippian who has achieved national recognition in the field of history by the Mississippi Historical Society. In 2017, Ferris received the Mississippi Governor’s Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement.
The William R. Ferris Collection
Personal Preservation: Keeper of Culture Bill Ferris’s Storied Career Reveals Depths of Deep South
Major Publications
I Am A Man: Photographies et luttes Pour les Droits Civiques Dan le Sud des Etats-Unis, 1960-1970, Hazan (Paris, 2018).
Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris, Dust to Digital (Atlanta, 2018).
The South in Color: A Visual Journey, University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill, 2016).
The Storied South: Voices of Writers and Artists, University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill, 2013).
The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Volume 14: Folklife, Co-Editor with Glenn Hinson, Charles Wilson, General Editor, University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill, 2010).
Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues, University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill, 2009); Les Voix du Mississippi (French Translation), Paris: Papa Guede, 2013, (Coup de Coeur de l'Académie Charles Cros-Musiques du Monde Award).
"You Live and Learn. Then You Die and Forget It All." Ray Lum's Tales of Horses, Mules and Men, Foreword by Eudora Welty, Anchor Books/Doubleday (New York, 1992); reissued as Ray Lum: Mule Trader, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, 1998).
Local Color, Foreword by Robert Penn Warren, McGraw-Hill (New York, 1982); Anchor Books/Doubleday (New York, 1992).
Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Foreword by Alex Haley, Co-Editor with Charles Wilson, University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill, 1989); four-volume paperback (Anchor/Doubleday, 1991).
Afro-American Folk Arts and Crafts, special edition of Southern Folklore Quarterly vol. 42, nos. 2 and 3 (1978); revised edition, G.K. Hall & Co. (Boston, 1983); University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, 1986).
Folk Music and Modern Sound, Co-Editor with Sue Hart, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, 1982).
Images of the South: Visits With Eudora Welty and Walker Evans, Center for Southern Folklore (Memphis, 1978).
American Folklore Films and Videotapes: An Index, Co-Editor with Judy Peiser and Carolyn Lipson, Center for Southern Folklore (Memphis, 1976).
Black Prose Narrative From the Mississippi Delta, published by Jazz Forschung/Jazz Research, Jahrbuch 6/7 (Graz, Austria, 1974-75).
Mississippi Black Folklore: A Research Bibliography and Discography, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson,1971).
Blues From the Delta, Studio Vista (London, 1970); revised edition, Foreword by Billy Taylor, Doubleday (New York, 1978); DaCapo (New York, 1988), Il Blues Del Delta, (Italian translation) Postmedia Books (Fiesole, Italy, 2011).