[1] Knox held an unprecedented position, serving as the only African American supervisor for the Manhattan Project.

[3] William Sr. had a slave heritage as his grandfather, Elijah Knox, was an enslaved carpenter in Edenton, North Carolina.

[2] This confrontation with the housing at Harvard and many other instances such as realtors only offering an abandoned brothel may have influenced Knox heavily, as he would join the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Rochester, New York, after his work in the Manhattan Project.

In 1943, one year after taking the position of chair of chemistry at Talladega College, Knox joined a team of scientists at Columbia University, known as the Manhattan Project, in New York City (1942–1945).

[3] The Manhattan Project consisted of researching teams at Columbia University as well as developing sites for plutonium and uranium at Hanford, Washington, Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

[6] William's brother Lawrence eventually joined him at Columbia University as a head research analyst for the Manhattan Project in New York City.

The government compiled several influential and highly educated individuals in the atomic field at Columbia University.

[9] Knox held a position unprecedented at the time, being the only African-American scientist to be a supervisor in the Manhattan Project.

[11] In 1945, Knox left his position on Columbia University's nuclear research team at the conclusion of World War II.

[14] Following his departure from Kodak, William Knox returned to North Carolina A&T University, to teach chemistry, before permanently retiring in 1973.

Knox clearly cared for his community and fought for social justice, having faced discrimination throughout his life and being an active member of his local chapter of the NAACP.

Knox, being a founding member of the Urban League of Rochester, showed that he not only fought against social injustice but also strove to better his community as well.