Tributes
What follows are excerpts of tributes to Bill from obituaries and a personal letter:
“His ethical commitment to historical writing begins from a deep family legacy of addressing the silences and correcting the power imbalances in the story of America.” (Jesse W. Shipley, The Volunteer, November 19, 2023).
“While I mourn the passing of this esteemed historian, I gladly join the parade of praise now accumulating in publications and online all over the world as they remember a man who was tirelessly devoted to acknowledging the people and history that so often was neglected or simply ignored.” (Herb Boyd, New York Amsterdam News, November 3, 2019).
“Bill never separated his work as a historian from teaching and activism. He was especially proud of his anti-Apartheid activism in the 1980s, his work with WBAI-FM radio, and his support for Black Lives Matter.” (Alan Singer, History News Network, October 31, 2019).
“He wrote about heroic black women, slave rebellions and antislavery movements when discussing such matters was dangerous and seen as unpatriotic,” Jesse Weaver Shipley, a professor of African and African-American studies and oratory at Dartmouth College, said in an email (Sam Roberts, The New York Times, November 21, 2023).
“I am a great admirer of Bill’s work as an historian and his prodigious output, including such important books as ‘The Black West’ and ‘Black Indians’. He was a trailblazer in helping to ensure that African-Americans got their place in history. At a more personal level, I was inspired by the way he kept on writing until the end of his life at 92 years. William Loren Katz was a hero of our time – and for all time .” (Deaglán de Bréadún, personal letter).