Profile

James Grossman

American Historical Association

Contact Details

American Historical Association

Bio

James Grossman is Executive Director of the American Historical Association. Formerly Vice President for Research and Education at the Newberry Library, he has taught at the University of Chicago and the University of California, San Diego. The author of Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration and A Chance to Make Good: African-Americans, 1900-1929, he also was project director and coeditor of The Encyclopedia of Chicago. His articles have focused on American urban history, African American history, ethnicity, higher education, and the place of history in public culture.

Grossman’s consulting experience includes history-related projects generated by the BBC, Smithsonian, and various theater companies, film makers, museums, and libraries. He serves on the boards of the American Association of Colleges & Universities, National Humanities Alliance, and American Council of Learned Societies.

Media samples:
On historical thinking and politics
"Lincoln" and the public role of historians
John Hope Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, & Jefferson's slaves