Williams emphasized that education was not just "nice" for blacks in the South. Learning to read and write was key to gaining economic, social and political power. She stated that literacy allowed communication between slaves on different plantations. However, education became risky for blacks as slave owners realized that blacks could use education to gain power. According to Williams, education allowed former slaves to improve their economic position and allowed blacks to take an active role in the political process.
Williams focused on education for blacks immediately before and after abolition. She explained that one of the most common ways that slaves learned to read was by finding whites willing to teach. "They would travel with a Webster's Blue Back Speller under their hats, whenever they came across a non-elite white person, they would pay them to teach," she said.
Williams also told stories of other solutions blacks found to gain literacy. Most important was how blacks became teachers. "Whoever had some measure of learning would become a teacher," she said. Williams shared about her work in studying the education situation for blacks after slavery was abolished. Her research has found many instances of blacks working to improve education during Reconstruction. "Before white missionaries even got there, [blacks] were setting up schools," she said. "People would be learning at school in the day and teaching at night." This view differs from conventional scholarly opinion, which states that white missionaries from the North spread education among blacks in the South.
Although blacks took a prominent role in shaping their own education after the Civil War, Williams reiterated that this was dangerous. White teachers were shunned for teaching blacks, and black teachers were often beaten and sometimes killed in order to hinder the educational process. Williams noted that this danger prevented blacks from getting a full education. "When you went into a classroom, you were taking a big risk," she said. "So, you rarely learned more than rudiments of reading and writing."
Williams answered many questions concerning both her lecture and the current state of education for blacks in the South. The audience showed a deep interest in the subject and kept the discussion well past the designated time.
Assistant professor of history and black studies Hilary Moss praised Williams' storytelling technique. "She did a beautiful job of drawing students into the lives of African Americans living slavery and freedom," Moss said. "She then used those stories to encourage students to think critically about their own education and their larger responsibility to the education of future generations."
Professor of American Studies and English Karen Sanchez-Eppler summarized the purpose of the event. "She was invited because many of us admire her new book [and to raise] "issues about educational justice within our liberal arts curriculum." Many who attended the lecture commented that it provided insight on contemporary educational problems in addition to historical ones.