Azmar Williams earns doctorate

Nov. 10—HENDERSON — Henderson native Azmar Williams became Dr. Williams after defending his dissertation at Harvard University in Boston about a month back, to the pride of his family.

Renee Williams, his mother, expressed great pride and excitement for his accomplishment.

"It's like I told him, since he was little — you work hard, you will achieve everything you want," she said. "And, thank God, he has been able to do so. Everything he said he was going to do, he did it, and I'm very proud of him."

Azmar's father, Michael, wasn't surprised.

"I've always known, since at least his second year in college," he said. Seeing his son's accomplishments in a field he's always wanted to get into is something every parent wants, he said. "As a father, what else could you ask for?"

Azmar's dissertation was titled "A New Solidarity: Race, Diversity and the Development of Modern Harvard: 1869-1969." Williams went to graduate school at Harvard University to earn his doctorate in history.

"Diversity and inclusion are popular ideas nowadays," said Azmar, "but people, I would argue, don't know the deeper history of those terms or ideas."

Harvard was ahead of the curve, implementing diversity and inclusion policies in the 19th and early 20th centuries — sort of. Those policies were directed towards white men. Harvard, in its early history, catered to a "brahmin elite," Azmar said, of a particular population of white people.

It didn't include people from the South, from certain religious groups like Catholicism and Judaism or those on a lower socioeconomic rung, he said. So the earliest methods to diversify the campus were to include those groups. As America's overall population changed, so too did Harvard's student body.

The goal, afterward, was to get all those students to mingle with one another to make Harvard a more "universal institution."

"What my dissertation did was tell the story of those programs by looking at the administrations of three of Harvard's presidents," Azmar explained, "before looking at how the entry of Black students in the 1960s changed how universities approached diversity."

According to his parents, Azmar had excelled in school long before Harvard. He started off at Carver Elementary, like his mother and his grandmother, before briefly attending school in New Jersey. Afterward, he went to Henderson Middle School, then Southern Vance High School, then to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics to finish up his K-12 career.

After graduating as a straight-A student, he continued on at Yale University where he majored in history and African-American studies, before going to that other most prestigious American university, Harvard, for a master's and doctorate.

When asked what makes Black history his calling, he thought for a moment.

"I think it's integral in understanding the America experience," Azmar said. "All those things we considered quintessentially American — freedom, justice, equality — all of those things enshrined in our foundational documents, were made real, made concrete, by the struggle of African-Americans in this country.

"I would say, for much of our history, those sentiments were just words. It took the struggle of people like my ancestors right in Vance County, in Henderson, to make the words of the Constitution real or to make the words of the Declaration of Independence real. I've always been fascinated by that story. I think that's what drew me to it."

For many years, "we lacked the knowing of ourselves," said Michael.

"For me, it was very important to teach him about Black history," he said. "We knew about everyone else's history, but didn't know enough about our own. I'm very proud of him for taking that to the next level — I've actually learned a lot from him."

Those ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it, as Michael said. Learning history gives more insight into current events and circumstances. And, there's much Black history that isn't taught — like the story of Black Wall Street, a hub for Black entrepreneurs right down the road in Durham.

There was a similarly named place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which was burned to the ground during the 24-hour long 1921 Tulsa race massacre. That event, and others like it, are within living memory or just a generation or two away for many people living today.

Currently, Azmar teaches world history to 10th graders at Groton School, a boarding school, in Massachusetts.

He knew he wanted to study history from freshman year of high school. His world history teacher at the time, Harry Harris, was "instrumental" in turning him towards Black history.

Before that, there was Michael Miller, his eighth-grade social studies teacher. Both made an effort to integrate Black history into their curriculums. The latter took his students, including Azmar, to the Henderson Institute museum. That was, once, the only school that served Black students in Henderson.

"He has worked long and hard his whole educational journey," said Renee, his mother. "Ever since, honestly, pre-K, he got nothing but A's. He maintained that for his whole educational career."

Having done the best, he wanted to go to the best colleges, Renee recounted. So he did.

"I was so, so, so excited — I was actually working," Renee said of the moment she learned her son became Dr. Azmar. "My heart was overjoyed... I was so happy inside, extremely happy. I wanted to cry."

Renee and Michael have three other kids — and they're all academic achievers. One's pursuing an accounting degree, another graduated from Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island, and the last goes to Henderson Collegiate.

"They've all done well," said Renee. She encouraged all of them to have a plan, an idea of what they wanted to do with their lives. That sort of academic success is the goal, said Michael. He's one of four siblings who all went to secondary school, though none ended up getting degrees, he said.

"So, I knew that, when I had kids, I wanted to take it a step further," he said. "We have to evolve as parents."

In their house, graduating from college is the bigger accomplishment than doing so from high school.

"It just goes to show that the African-American people are just as educated, they can excel in those Ivy League schools," said Renee. "My son is an example of that. You work hard, you put the work in, you get what you want."

Azmar plans on continuing his career as a teacher and introducing a Black history elective at Groton. One day, he said, he plans on returning home, but not anytime soon.

For other young scholars, Azmar gave some advice.

"Dream big and take risks," he said. "Don't put any limits on what you can imagine for yourself, and just go for it. Don't think too much about it, go for it."