Professor William Jones, Moderator
Author and professor of U.S. history at the University of Minnesota.
William P. Jones is a historian and Professor of History at the University of Minnesota, specializing in the intersections of race, class, and labor in 20th-century U.S. history. His research examines the experiences of African American industrial workers in the Jim Crow South, the Civil Rights Movement, and the history of race and inequality in public employment.
He is the author of several influential books, including The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom, and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights and The Tribe of Black Ulysses: African American Lumber Workers in the Jim Crow South. Jones's scholarship sheds light on the often-overlooked contributions of African Americans to labor movements and civil rights struggles.
An active public scholar, he has contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, and more. Jones is also an Associate Editor of Labor: Studies in Working-Class History and has served as President of the Labor and Working-Class History Association.
Publications
Awards
- Distinguished Lecturer, Organization of American Historians, 2015 - 2019
- Best Book in Labor Education, United Assocation for Labor Education, 2012 - 2013
- Best Article Award, Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas, 2010 - 2011
- Community-Engaged Scholar Award, University of Minnesota, 2022
- Jerry Wurf Memorial Fund Scholar-in-Residence, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, 2019-2020
- Faculty Fellowship, Institute for Advanced Study, University of Minnesota, 2017
- NEH Postdoctoral Fellow, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture , 2005 - 2006
- Charles A. Ryskamp Research Fellowship, ACLS, 2007 - 2008
