Gordon S. Williams

Trustee | Cleveland, Texas

Gordon S. Williams is the Lamar University Television Studio Operations Manager and adjunct instructor for LUTV News. His award-winning films have screened at more than a hundred festivals and is distributed by outlets including Amazon Video and Shorts International.

In June 2023, U.S. Representative Brian Babin honored Gordon with a Special Congressional Recognition. This honor was given for his decades of mentoring media professionals at Lamar University and for preserving Beaumont’s history.

Williams’ presentation Beaumont’s Black History—In Moving Pictures brings to light the stories of African Americans in Beaumont. His award-winning short films The Example and They Will Talk About Us: The Charlton-Pollard Story were the first visual media productions to document that history. These works have been shown at universities and colleges across the country. In July 2024, Beaumont’s Black History—In Moving Pictures was added to the collection at The Black Film & Cinema Archive at Indiana University—the only archive in the world devoted solely to films by and about Black people.

He has presented research on the 1943 Beaumont Race Riot and the Charlton-Pollard neighborhood at numerous conferences; these conference include the East Texas Historical Association, Texas State Historical Association, Southern Conference for African American Studies, and the Alliance for Texas History Symposium.

In 2024, Gordon earned two Telly Awards with Joshua Productions for the game show Family Knows Best and a healthcare campaign commercial. His most recent short romantic drama, She Loves Her John, earned multiple awards. He also wrote, produced, and directed the acclaimed short documentary Shankleville: A Love That Still Stands.

Gordon serves on the boards of the Boomtown Film Festival, the Center for Culture and History of Southeast Texas and the Upper Gulf Coast, the Southwest Alternate Media Project (SWAMP), and the Beaumont Heritage Society. He is also an advisor for the Jefferson County Historical Commission and was named a Fellow of the East Texas Historical Association in October 2025.