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J Schermerhorn
Professor,
School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies
Coor Hall 4572 975 S. Myrtle Ave. Box 874302 Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-4302
Mail code: 4302
Campus: Tempe
Long Bio
Calvin Schermerhorn grew up in Southern Maryland. After graduate degrees at Harvard Divinity School and the University of Virginia he became a historian of slavery, capitalism, and African American inequality. He teaches courses in nineteenth-century American history and advises Honors, Masters, and PhD students. He was a Fulbright Scholar to the University of Nottingham in 2022. He has contributed to The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, Time and The Washington Post, among other popular venues, and his work has been featured in national discussions of racial inequality. He is author of four books on American slavery and inequality including The Plunder of Black America: How the Racial Wealth Gap Was Made, which was published by Yale University Press in 2025.
Education
Ph.D. University of Virginia
M.T.S. Harvard Divinity School
B.A. Saint Mary's College of Maryland
Research Interests
African American history, slavery, capitalism, U.S. South, public history, human trafficking in America and the Atlantic world
Search Committee, Modern United States Political History, Member (2012 - Present)
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, Corona del Sol High School, Judge (2012 - Present)
History Faculty Promotion and Tenure Policy Committee, Member (2012 - Present)
Road to Disunion: The Geopolitics of Slavery, Political Crisis, and the Onset of Civil War" American History from A to Z, Presidential Engagement Program, ASU Foundation for a New American University., Invited Speaker (2012 - Present)
"The South, Slavery, and the Rise of King Cotton," Aspire Academy at Connolly Middle School, Tempe, Arizona., Invited Speaker (2012 - Present)
Journal of the Early Republic, Reviewer (2012 - Present)
American Nineteenth Century History, Reviewer (2012 - Present)
Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching Award Committee, Member (2012 - Present)
Roger Adelson Graduate Research Award Committee, Chair (2012 - Present)
Ohio University Press, Manuscript Review (2012 - Present)
The Public Historian, Peer Reviewer (2010 - Present)
Committee to Establish a Graduate Field in Global and World History, Member (2008 - Present)
Committee to establish a Graduate Certificate in Global and World History, Member (2008 - Present)
Committee to establish a Graduate Certificate in Global and World History, Member (2008 - Present)
History Department Graduate Committee to establish a graduate field in global and world history, Member (2008 - Present)
Undergraduate Policy Committee, History Department, Member (2008 - Present)
Oxford University Press, Outside Reviewer and Reader (2008 - Present)
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Editorial Board Member (2014 - 2016)
Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr., Ark Media for PBS, Professional Historical Consulatant (2014 - 2014)
Routledge, Manuscript Reviewer (2014 - 2014)
Carol & Norris Hundley Award Committee, Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, Chair (2014 - 2014)
Personnel Advisory Committee (PAC), Member (2014 - 2014)
