Dr. William Ferris
Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History; Senior Associate Director of CSAS; Adjunct Professor in the Curriculum in Folklore
Bio
William R. Ferris, a widely recognized leader in Southern studies, African American music, and folklore, is the Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the senior associate director of UNC鈥檚 Center for the Study of the American South. He is also adjunct professor in the curriculum on folklore. A native of Vicksburg, Miss., Ferris was the founding director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, where he taught for 18 years. He also taught at Yale University and Jackson State University. A graduate of Davidson College, he received a Ph.D. in folklore from the University of Pennsylvania (1969). The former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Ferris has conducted thousands of interviews with musicians ranging from the famous (B.B. King) to the unrecognized (Parchman Penitentiary inmates working in the fields). He has written or edited 10 books and created 15 documentary films. He co-edited the massive 鈥淓ncyclopedia of Southern Culture鈥� (UNC Press, 1989), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. His most recent book 鈥淭he Storied South: Voices of Writers and Artists鈥� (2013), was published by the University of North Carolina Press. Bill Ferris鈥� films include 鈥淢ississippi Blues鈥� (1983), which was featured at the Cannes Film Festival. He has produced numerous sound recordings and hosted 鈥淗ighway 61,鈥� a weekly blues program on Mississippi Public Radio for nearly a decade. He also has published his own poetry and short stories.
