Zoe Williams

Zoe Williams

Biography

Zoë Williams is a rising senior at Howard University, majoring in political science and minoring in history. She is a member of the inaugural cohort of the Humanities and Social Sciences Scholars Program and a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow. During the summer of 2024, she was a participant in the Digital Legal Research Lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she explored how marginalized actors used habeas corpus in the American West during the 19th and 20th centuries. The following summer, she conducted an independent research project as an intern in the Accountability, Behavior, and Conflict in Democratic Politics REU at Vanderbilt University. This project explored how political globalization has impacted African countries’ monopoly on the use of force. Zoë’s research interests focus on the legal history of African Americans and US intervention and influence in African states through NGOs, private military firms, and other Western international entities. She thoroughly enjoys archival research but is also interested in statistical analysis. After earning her undergraduate degree, Zoë hopes to pursue a PhD in political science.