Interfaith Lunch Series... Crossing Divides of Distrust: Building Bridges with Black and Jewish Solidarity

Rev Dr Avis Williams

Reverend Dr. Avis Williams is an independent scholar and community advocate who makes her home in Oxford and Covington, Newton County, Georgia. A Doctor of Ministry and ordained Baptist minister, she holds four degrees from Emory University, including two from the Candler School of Theology. She currently works as Community Liaison for the Putnam County (Georgia) Charter School System, engaging young people in higher educational opportunities and explorations in personal and community transformation. She is deeply committed to food security, anti-cancer advocacy, and dialogues of tolerance and compassion.



Rev. Williams is a long term collaborator with Mark Auslander on African American and Afro-indigenous community histories in Georgia and beyond.

Dr. Mark Auslander

Mark Auslander is a sociocultural anthropologist and museum professional, who is currently a visiting lecturer in Anthropology at Mount Holyoke. His award-winning book, “The Accidental Slaveowner: Revisiting a Myth of Race and Finding an American Family” (University of Georgia Press, 2011) re-reads American racial politics under slavery and post-slavery through structuralist approaches to mythology and kinship.  

Dr. Auslander collaborates closely with Rev. Dr. Avis Williams on African American and Afro-indigenous memory work in the US South, with special attention to Newton County, Georgia.