"reading was everything"
"My dad was drilling nonfiction into me. A lot of continental African history, African-American history, and Black cowboys to try to create some adventure,"
"turned the world into a five dimensional place."
"The [brand of] heroism it was hoping to pedestal are real aspirations for real people that wield real power in our lives. It's the romanticism [of these ideals] that, in many ways, drives what's happening on the right in politics today,"
Jesse Williams grew up in a household where reading was central and television was rarely allowed. His parents often took him and his siblings to the library for entertainment and his father emphasized nonfiction, including continental African history, African-American history, and stories of Black cowboys to create adventure. Williams enjoyed fantasy such as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon transformed his perception, making the world feel five-dimensional and offering characters he identified with. He read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead to understand a different political mindset and approached that perspective like anthropological research. He also appreciated John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces.
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