Terry Williams is an American sociologist, academic, and author whose work includes urban social policy and related fields. He founded the Harlem Writers Crew Project.

Williams grew up in Mississippi, where his father owned a small afterhours club. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree, cum Laude, from Richmond College (CUNY). Williams received his Ph.D. in sociology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. While studying there in the early 1970s, ethnography was not an integral part of the program. Williams found mentors at the University of Chicago to support his interest in ethnography and other non-quantitative research methods.

He moved to Harlem in 1979. He has been a professor at Princeton University and Professor at the New School for Social Research in New York City.

In 1995, he created the film Harlem Diary: Nine Voices of Resilience, which followed nine young African-American residents of Harlem.