Olivia J. Williams

Olivia J. Williams is a rising junior at Washington University in St. Louis majoring in African and African-American Studies. She has been published in Drake University’s literary journal Periphery and Washington University’s independent Black magazine RIZE. Her research paper, “Sustenance Abuse: Anorexia, Bulimia, & Black Women,” won the 2019 Dean James E. McLeod First-Year Writing Prize.

Posts by Olivia J. Williams

Breathing Lessons for Black Girls

It is strange; I am more scared after speaking than before. My stomach twists tighter as thoughts whirl. Will they revoke my scholarship for speaking out? Will I be targeted? Will I keep my job? My leadership position?

Is it activism yet?

Black in the Time of Quarantine

There is no mourning for my grandfather left inside me. There is only guilt as I look into my father’s tired face, guilt as I scroll quickly past a COVID headline.