Carl Neumann Degler (February 6, 1921 – December 27, 2014) was an American historian and

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning author. He was the Margaret Byrne Professor of American History

Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Early life and education

Degler was born on February 6, 1921, in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1942 to 1945. He earned a BA in history from

Upsala College Upsala College (UC) was a private college affiliated with the Swedish-American Augustana Synod (later the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and located in East Orange in Essex County, New Jersey in the United States, with an additiona ...

, and master's and doctoral degrees from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. His 1952 PhD dissertation in political science was "Labor in the Economy and Politics of New York City, 1850–1860: A Study of the Impact of Early Industrialism." It was never published as a whole, but several chapters became articles.

Career

Degler taught history at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

for 16 years (1952–1968). In 1968 he joined the Stanford faculty and taught there for the rest of his career, retiring as Emeritus Professor in 1990. In 1986 Degler was elected President of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

. He also served as president of the Organization of American Historians and the Southern Historical Association. In 1972 Degler was awarded the

Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the histor ...

for his book '' Neither Black nor White'' (1971), a work comparing

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

and race relations in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He earlier wrote ''Out of Our Past'' (1959), a study of United States history that was used in high school and college classrooms. He has been described as "a scholarly champion of the common man and woman in American history" and as "a founding feminist". He was one of only two male founding members of the

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

. In 1973–1974 he was the

Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History The Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professorship is an endowed chair in American history at the University of Oxford, tenable for one year. The Harmsworth Professorship was established by Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere (1868–194 ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. He was a member of both the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

Personal life

Degler was married to Catherine Grady, whom he met at Columbia, for nearly 50 years until her death. He was married to Teresa Baker Degler for the last 14 years of his life. He had two children and four grandchildren. He died in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

, on December 27, 2014, at the age of 93.

Bibliography

Degler's works include: * "The Locofocos: Urban “Agrarians”." ''Journal of Economic History'' 16.3 (1956): 322-333. *''Out of Our Past: The Forces That Shaped Modern America'' (1959) *''The Third American Revolution'' (1959) * "Slavery and the genesis of American race prejudice." ''Comparative Studies in Society and History'' 2.1 (1959): 49-66. * "American political parties and the rise of the city: An interpretation." ''Journal of American History'' 51.1 (1964): 41-59. * "Revolution without ideology: The changing place of women in America." ''Daedalus'' (1964): 653-670. *''Affluence and Anxiety'' (1968) * "Slavery in Brazil and the United States: An essay in comparative history." ''American Historical Review'' 75.4 (1970): 1004-1028. * "Black and white together: Bi-racial politics in the south." ''The Virginia Quarterly Review'' 47.3 (1971): 421-444. *''Neither Black Nor White: Slavery and Race Relations in Brazil and the United States'' (1972) *''The Other South: Southern Dissenters in the Nineteenth Century'' (1974) *''Place Over Time: The Continuity of Southern Distinctiveness'' (1977) * "Remaking American History." ''Journal of American History'' 67.1 (1980): 7-25. * "What the women's movement has done to American history." ''Soundings (1981): 403-421. *''At Odds: Women and the Family in America from the Revolution to the Present'' (1981) * "Thesis, antithesis, synthesis: The South, the North, and the nation." ''Journal of Southern History'' 53.1 (1987): 3-18. *''In Search of Human Nature: The Decline and Revival of Darwinism in American Social Thought'' (1991) Se
online
/ref>

References

External links