Biography

Dr. William R. Ferris, a widely recognized leader in southern studies, African American music and folklore, is professor of history and folklore, and senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ferris, former chairman of the National Endowment of the Humanities, has written or edited 10 books and created 15 documentary films. He co-edited the massive "Encyclopedia of Southern Culture" (UNC Press,1989), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.