Michael Williamson b. 1957, is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 photojournalist whose work has been awarded two Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

s. With writer Dale Maharidge

Dale Maharidge

Dale Maharidge is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist best known for his collaborations with photographer Michael Williamson....

, he is co-author of the book And Their Children After Them

And Their Children After Them

And Their Children After Them , written by Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson and published by Pantheon Books in 1989, won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. It is about sharecropper families during the Great Depression....

, which received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction

Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction

The Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction has been awarded since 1962 for a distinguished book of non-fiction by an American author that is not eligible for consideration in another category.-1960s:...

 in 1990. 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

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...

 has hailed Journey to Nowhere as the inspiration for two songs from his album The Ghost of Tom Joad, "Youngstown

Youngstown (song)

"Youngstown" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad. Although many of the songs on the album were performed by Springsteen solo, the lineup for the "Youngstown" includes Soozie Tyrell on violin, Jim Hanson on bass, Gary Mallaber on drums, co-producer Chuck Plotkin...

" and "The New Timer

The New Timer

"New Timer" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad. Springsteen performs the song solo on the album, with only guitar accompaniment....

". The book was re-released in 1995 with a forward by Springsteen.

Other books by Maharidge and Williamson are: "The Last Great American Hobo", "Homeland", and "Denison, Iowa".

In 1993, Williamson became a staff photographer for the Washington Post. Photos he took on assignment in Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

, along with the work of Post colleagues Carol Guzy

Carol Guzy

Carol Guzy is a four-time Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post photographer.-Life and career:Guzy grew up in a working-class family in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania....

 and Lucian Perkins

Lucian Perkins

Lucian Perkins is an award-winning American photojournalist, who is best known for covering a number of controversial conflicts with profound compassion for his photograph's subjects, including the war in Afghanistan, Kosovo and the 1991 Persian Gulf War...

, led to Williamson's share of another Pulitzer in 2000. That same year, he was named Photographer of the Year by the White House News Photographer's Association.

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