Michael Williamson

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For the science fiction author, see Michael Z. Williamson. For the English footballer, see Mike Williamson (footballer).

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Michael Williamson is an American photographer whose work has been awarded two Pulitzer Prizes. With writer Dale Maharidge, he was co-author of the book And Their Children After Them, which received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1990^[1]. That book, and another written with Maharidge, Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass, were produced while both men were on the staff of the Sacramento Bee. Singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen has hailed Journey to Nowhere as the inspiration for his album The Ghost of Tom Joad.^{[citation needed]}

In 1993, Williamson became a staff photographer for the Washington Post. Photos he took on assignment in Kosovo, along with the work of Post colleagues Carol Guzy and Lucian Perkins, led to Williamson's share of another Pulitzer in 2000. That same year, he was named Photographer of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association.

Williamson grew up in a series of foster homes, a circumstance to which he attributes his interest in the poor and the downtrodden.