His areas of research included desegregation, higher education, public health, race relations, urban community problems, and family life.

His mother, Carrie Sykes, was one of the first black women to earn a college degree in Texas but could not teach in the segregated Dallas school system because she was married.

[9][10] He served President John F. Kennedy as the Research Director of Washington Action for Youth, a delinquency-prevention planning program in Washington, D.C. sponsored by the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime from 1962 to 1964.

[22] He also served as a consultant, expert witness, and court-appointed master in major school desegregation cases in various large cities including the landmark case of Boston (1974) from which emerged the "Controlled Choice" plan popularized by Willie and Michael Alves and used in Boston for 10 years and Cambridge for 20 years.

[23] Willie did desegregation planning work in Hartford, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Little Rock, Milwaukee, San Jose, Seattle, and St. Louis; and in other municipalities such as St. Lucie County and Lee County, Florida, and Somerville, Cambridge, and Brockton, Massachusetts.

[25] Although a lay member of this religious association, he was invited to deliver the ordination sermon at an irregular service held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Church of the Advocate, July 29, 1974 in which the first eleven women were ordained as priests in this denomination.

[26][27][28] Some members of the Episcopal Church were reluctant to acknowledge the priesthood of women, and the ordination was disputed.

Willie then resigned on August 18, 1974, his elected office of vice-president, in protest at the Bishops' failure to uphold the ordination and accord women equal rights.

[39] Willie was the author or editor of over 100 articles and 30 books on issues of race, gender, socioeconomic status, mental health, religion, education, urban communities, and family relations.