William L. Katz, Author at

Independent Historian

William Loren Katz is the author of forty American history books and has been affiliated with New York University for thirty years. He is the editor of the 146-volume reprint series, The American Negro: History and Literature and the 69-volume reprint series: The Anti-Slavery Crusade in America.

Mr. Katz, who taught U.S. history in New York secondary schools and several colleges, has also served as a consultant to the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. Senate, a committee of the British House of Commons, and to various school systems from Seattle, Washington to Dade County, Florida. He lives in New York and lectures around the world.

January 1, 1863: When New Year’s Day Meant Freedom

When the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect January 1, 1863 African American soldiers in the Union Army had been fighting the Confederacy along the South Carolina coast for nearly a year. On January 1, these soldiers assembled with their families to celebrate. Their commander, Colonel … Read MoreJanuary 1, 1863: When New Year’s Day Meant Freedom

African America’s First Protest Meeting: Black Philadelphians Reject the American Colonization Society Plans for Their Resettlem

In the following account historian William L. Katz revisits an essay he first wrote in 1968 as the introduction to the reprinted volume of William Lloyd Garrison’s Thoughts on African Colonization which was first published in 1832. In the article below he describes the first … Read MoreAfrican America’s First Protest Meeting: Black Philadelphians Reject the American Colonization Society Plans for Their Resettlem

Battle of Lake Okeechobee (1837)

On Christmas Day, 1837, during the Second Seminole War, the Africans and Native Americans comprising Florida’s Seminole Nation defeated a superior U.S. fighting force. In more than half a century of Florida invasions, this was the worst defeat the Seminole Nation inflicted on the American … Read MoreBattle of Lake Okeechobee (1837)

Black Indians: A Personal and Historic Journey

William Loren Katz has devoted his life to researching and writing African American history. In the following account written to describe the reissue of one of his most successful books, Black Indians, he describes how he became an historian of African America and particularly the … Read MoreBlack Indians: A Personal and Historic Journey

Oliver Law (1900-1937)

Oliver Law was the first African American in history to lead an integrated American military army. Born in west Texas on October 23, 1900, from 1919 to 1925 he was a private in the U.S. 24th Infantry. He moved to Chicago where he became a … Read MoreOliver Law (1900-1937)