In 2003, Williams co-founded the Africana Cultures and Policy Studies Institute, a policy think tank group dedicated to the study of African American policy history and development of sustainable solutions to historic and contemporary problems impacting African Americans. He serves as an associate minister at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland. Also in 2003, he received his Ph.D. in American and African-American policy history from Bowling Green State University, with a focus on Americana and African American policy history and Africana studies. He holds a B.A. in history from Clemson University.