J. William Harris
J. William Harris is a prominent historian and author recognized for his extensive research on the American South, the Civil War, and African American history. Originally from Georgia, Harris began his academic journey at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, pursuing a degree in biochemistry before shifting his focus to history. He earned both his master's degree and PhD from Johns Hopkins University. In 1985, he joined the faculty at the University of New Hampshire, where he taught history and mentored students.
Harris has published several influential works, including his dissertation-turned-book, *Plain Folk and Gentry in a Slave Society*, which examines the complexities of Southern society and its ties to slavery. His acclaimed book *Deep Souths* explores the societal evolution of different Southern regions during segregation, and it challenges existing narratives about the post-Civil War South. His scholarly contributions have garnered accolades, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination. In addition to his writing, Harris has been active in academia, earning recognition for his mentorship of emerging historians. He is married to documentary filmmaker Terry Kay Rockefeller and has two daughters.
Subject Terms
J. William Harris
Historian
- Born: 1946
Contribution: J. William Harris is an award-winning historian and author. He is best known for his studies of the American South, the Civil War, and African American history.
Background
Georgia native J. William Harris did not initially study the field of history. He began his higher education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in 1968. While attending school there, he first studied to become a biochemist. After numerous courses in history attracted him, however, he shifted his education path toward that discipline.
Harris went on to pursue graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University, receiving his master’s degree in 1976 and his PhD in 1982. In 1985, he began teaching history at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.
Publications
Shortly after Harris received his PhD, his dissertation was published as Plain Folk and Gentry in a Slave Society: White Liberty and Black Slavery in Augusta’s Hinterlands (1985). In it, he examines the American South’s support of slavery as a way to maintain their liberty and how the American Civil War undermined southern society. The book also looks at how the relationships between southern classes ensured control over the African American population and how the war shattered the sense of southern community. He soon became a fellow at Harvard University's Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History for the 1988–89 academic year.
Harris next edited the essay collection Society and Culture in the Slave South, which was published in 1992. The book examines many debates in the field of southern American history, including the interpretation of paternalism in the South and relations between slaves and slave owners.
In 1992, Harris received the National Humanities Center Fellowship toward the next work of Harris’s own, the book Deep Souths: Delta, Piedmont, and Sea Island Society in the Age of Segregation (2001), which examines the economic, social, and political histories of three southern regions from Reconstruction to World War II and how their slave-based cultures separated after the Civil War. Harris’s study challenges the concept that the lower South was either unchanging or inert during slavery. Deep Souths was highly acclaimed, and scholars applauded Harris’s approach to research, which included a large amount of primary sources and oral histories. The book was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for History.
Harris’s next book was The Making of the American South: A Short History, 1500–1877 (2006), part of the Problems in American History series. The work provides an examination of the South during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. Harris also covers the emergence of European outposts and themes of southern society.
In 2008, two volumes of essays edited by Harris were published. The New South: New Histories looks at the historiography of the South from Reconstruction through the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s. Harris selected scholarly essays covering topics such as the role of women, the significance of memory, and various interpretations of the South. The second collection was a second edition of Society and Culture in the Slave South, retitled The Old South: New Studies of Society and Culture.
Harris continued his study of the South with the book The Hanging of Thomas Jeremiah: A Free Black Man’s Encounter with Liberty (2009). The book details the life of South Carolinian Thomas Jeremiah, who in 1775 was possibly the wealthiest person of African descent in North America. White men accused Jeremiah of working with the British to sow insurrection among slaves. Although he was a free man, Jeremiah’s trial was held in a slave court. He was found guilty and hanged.
The Hanging of Thomas Jeremiah was a critical success; Harris was praised for his impassive approach to the material, the thoroughness of his research, and his examination of the conflicting principles presented. The book made Library Journal’s list of the best books of 2009, received an honorable mention in the nonfiction category at the 2009 New England Book Festival, won silver in the history category of ForeWord Reviews’ 2009 Book of the Year Awards, and was a finalist for the South Carolina Historical Society’s 2010 George C. Rogers Jr. Book Award.
Harris spent the fall semester of 2014 as a Fulbright Distinguished Research Chair at the Roosevelt Study Center (later renamed the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies) in Middelburg, the Netherlands. There he worked on a book project provisionally titled "The South Since the Civil War: A History."
By 2020, Harris had retired, taking the title of professor emeritus.
Impact
Throughout his decades of study, Harris has helped shed new light on and challenge old ideas of the history of the American South. His approach to research emphasizes primary sources and oral history, resulting in several acclaimed books and essay collections. His contribution to the field also includes his work as a teacher and adviser to history majors at the University of New Hampshire; for his work cultivating future historians, Harris received the 2011 Graduate Faculty Mentor Award.
Personal Life
Harris married documentary-film producer and activist Terry Kay Rockefeller. They had two daughters.
Bibliography
Countryman, Edward. Rev. of The Hanging of Thomas Jeremiah, by J. William Harris. Journal of Southern History 77.2 (2011): 412–14. Print.
Duisberg, Kristin. “Faculty Excellence Profile: J. William Harris.” Campus Journal. UNH Media Relations, 16 Nov. 2011. Web. 23 July 2013.
Durden, Robert F. Rev. of Plain Folk and Gentry in a Slave Society, by J. William Harris. American Historical Review 91.3 (1986): 735. Print.
Friend, Craig Thompson. Rev. of The Making of the American South, by J. William Harris. Journal of Southern History 73.3 (2007): 671–72. Print.
"J. William Harris." Organization of American Historians, 2024, www.oah.org/lectures/lecturers/j-william-harris. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
Mantz, Erika L. “UNH History Professor Wins Annual Lindberg Honor.” Campus Journal. UNH Media Relations, 8 Mar. 2006. Web. 23 July 2013.
McKenzie, Robert Tracy. Rev. of Deep Souths: Delta, Piedmont, and Sea Island Society, by J. William Harris. Journal of Interdisciplinary History 33.3 (2003): 490–92. Print.