Dr. Bill Wiggins was an academic and public folklorist, a teacher, an advisor, a mentor, an ordained CME minister/former professor of religion, and an amateur athlete/sports enthusiast/scholar. Born in Port Allen, LA and raised in Louisville, KY, he earned a BA in pre-theology from Ohio Wesleyan University and then several degrees including an MA in theology. In 1969, he began a PhD program in folklore at Indiana University and simultaneously joined the faculty of the Afro-American Studies program at IU as one of its founding faculty members, teaching there for over 34 years. He also served as interim chair of his department and the Dean of African American Affairs. When he completed his doctorate, he became the first African American male to have earned a PhD in folklore studies at IU.

During his illustrious career, Dr. Wiggins earned numerous prestigious scholarly awards including recognition as a Fellow of the American Folklore Society, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Ford Foundation Fellow. He researched and selected performers from Africa and the Caribbean as a founding researcher for the new African Diaspora Program of the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife in 1974–76. He also co-founded the Association of African and African American Folklorists (AAAAF) and hosted one of its early conferences. Dr. Wiggins’ groundbreaking scholarship in African American folklore ranged from literary analysis of the novels of John Killens to the study of celebration, sacred pageants and sports through a variety of media: books, catalogs, scholarly articles, exhibitions, public presentations and film. His publications include:

In the Rapture (1977)

Rapture Family (1977)

O Freedom! Afro-American Emancipation Celebrations (1987)

Joe Louis: American Folk Hero (1991)

Phyllis M. May-Machunda