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Dr. Eric Eustace Williams (b. 25 September 1911 d. 29 March 1981) led Trinidad and Tobago to independence and became the first Prime Minister of the country in 1962. He remained in this position until his death in 1981. As head of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago since 1965 however, Dr.Williams was not only influential in early developments of the country but also in the wider Caribbean region. He made foundational contributions in efforts towards Caribbean integration, namely the West Indian Federation, Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Even more significantly, Dr. Williams is perhaps best remembered globally for his scholarly contributions as an Oxford-trained Caribbean historian. He studied at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford where he completed a B.A. in 1935 and later a DPhil in History in 1938. His most influential work, Capitalism and Slavery, first published in 1944, stemmed from his DPhil Thesis, entitled 'The Economic Aspects of the Abolition of the Slave Trade.' The transition from thesis to publication occurred wh

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Eric Eustace Williams was born out of humble origins in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad on September 25th, 1911. He was the eldest son of 12 children to Henry and Elisa Williams. He began his education at Tranquility Boys Intermediate and won a college exhibition in June 1922 at the age of 11. He then went on to attend Queen’s Royal College where he excelled both in the classroom and on the playing field.

While employed as a temporary master at QRC, He won the Island Scholarship which allowed him to leave Trinidad the following year to study history at Oxford University. He graduated three years later at the top of his class and was awarded a first class Honours degree. He then decided to pursue his doctorate which he attained in 1938. The twenty seven year old Williams was then made an honorary fellow of St. Catherine’s College, awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law from Oxford, an honorary degree of Doctor of Law from New Brunswick and an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of the West Indies. His doctoral thesis was called “The Econom

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*This essay is part of our online forum on Eric Williams’ Capitalism and Slavery (1944), organized by historian Sasha Turner. The forum is in honor of Williams’ birthday on September 25th.

I was 14 years old, without a profound thought in my head other than “boys,” when I told my father Eric Williams, “Daddy, when you die, all I want are your books and papers.” I had failed miserably at history, rebelliously refused to go to university, but I instinctively appreciated their intrinsic value. His genuine admiration of what he described as my mother’s “native intelligence, uncorrupted by a university education” made clear why he overlooked my academic failures.

Today, ironically, I am the founding curator of the Eric Williams Memorial Collection Research Library, Archives & Museum (EWMC) at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Trinidad and Tobago. Inaugurated in 1998 by former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, it was named to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 1999. Stimulating scholarship, education, dissent, the institutionalization of a nation’s historica