Robert Williams
- Robert A. Williams, Jr. is an American Indian storyteller, lawyer and legal scholar specializing in American Indian law and indigenous peoples’ human rights.
- The 2006 recipient of the University of Arizona Henry and Phyllis Koffler Prize for Outstanding Accomplishments in Public Service, Williams is faculty co-chair of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program at The University of Arizona College of Law in Tucson.
- He has represented tribal groups and individuals before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, United Nations human rights bodies and the United State Supreme Court.
- He is the author of The American Indian in Western Legal Thought: The Discourses of Conquest, which received the Gustavus Meyers Human Rights Center Award, and Savage Anxieties: The Invention of Western Civilization.
Professor Williams’ abilities to present a complicated topic, to constructively engage and bring out the critical thinking process of his audience was outstanding.
Months after his presentation, I continue to hear from our beneficiaries and officials about how impressed they were with his rhetorical skill and subject matter knowledge, and how they are still thinking about the points that he made.
…a gifted teacher and speaker who confronts hard issues fearlessly but always based in truth and respect. He has the rare ability to promote healing through the strength of words.