Margo Lee Williams
Margo Lee Williams is an award winning, genealogy and history author. A former editor of the Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, she is particularly interested in community and family histories of free people of color in the southeast, especially those in North Carolina and Virginia, who often had mixed race origins.... more
Margo Lee Williams is an award winning, genealogy and history author. A former editor of the Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, she is particularly interested in community and family histories of free people of color in the southeast, especially those in North Carolina and Virginia, who often had mixed race origins.
Williams has researched and written extensively on her Lassiter family of Randolph County, North Carolina. Her first book, published in 2011, Miles Lassiter (circa 1777-1850) An Early African American Quaker from Lassiter Mill, Randolph County, North Carolina: My Research Journey to Home (Backintyme Publishing) told the story of both her personal and research journeys that led to the discovery of her fourth great grandfather, Miles Lassiter.
Her second book, published in 2016, From Hill Town to Strieby: Education and the American Missionary Association in the Uwharrie “Back Country” of Randolph County, North Carolina (Backintyme Publishing), picks up where her first book left off. From Hill Town to Strieby is a social history that follows the development of the school and church, founded in 1880 by a mixed race, former slave, and 19th century poet, the Rev. Islay Walden. The church and school served the Lassiter Mill and Hill Town/Strieby communities of color in southwestern Randolph County. Her research led to the Strieby Church, School and Cemetery property being named a Randolph County Cultural Heritage Site in 2014.
Both of Williams’ books have won genealogy and history book awards. Miles Lassiter (circa 1777-1850) was the 2012 winner for Excellence in Publishing for a Family History from the North Carolina Genealogical Society. From Hill Town to Strieby has won four awards: a 2017 Gold Non-Fiction Book Award in both history and genealogy; the 2016 Marsha M. Greenlee History Award from the Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society; a 2016 Historical Book Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians; and was a finalist in the African American category of the 2017 Next Generation INDIE Book Awards.
Williams is a graduate of Marquette University, and has her MA in Sociology from Hunter College and her MA in Religious Education from The Catholic University of America. She worked for over twenty years at various churches in the suburban Washington DC area, and another eight years as a National Service Officer with Vietnam Veterans of America. She has one daughter.