Marco McWilliams is a Black Studies scholar, professor of Jiu Jitsu, and founder of Providence Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. McWilliams is also a community organizer, educator, and published writer with two decades of experience in building diverse learning communities through engaged scholarship. He was the founding instructor of the influential Black Studies program at DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality), where his teaching focused on using the Black Radical Tradition to develop strategies for social change. In 2023, he, along with master printmaker Jacques Bidon, founded Letters in Liberation.

McWilliams has taught, lectured, and led workshops at colleges and universities across the country, including Brown University, Morehouse College, Princeton University, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence College, University of Rhode Island, ArtCenter College of Design, Rhode Island College, and others. He also works with middle and high school students, educators, and families as key stakeholders in efforts to transform progressive education.

He served as a program coordinator and educator at Brown University's Swearer Center, where he was honored to be the inaugural 2017 Junior Fellow and Practitioner-in-Residence. In 2020, he accepted an appointment from Providence’s mayor to serve on the Special Committee for the Review of Commemorative Works. McWilliams holds a BA in Africana Studies from Rhode Island College and is a graduate of Brown University's Department of American Studies.