David Cunningham is a Professor and Chair of Sociology at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

. His scholarship includes social conflict, race-based hate groups, and social movements.

Education

Cunningham studied civil engineering and English at

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

and graduated in 1993. He received his M.A. in sociology in 1996 and his Ph.D in sociology in 2000 from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

. His dissertation was on FBI Counterintelligence programs, which ended social movements that the FBI saw as threats to national security.

Career

Cunningham has written two books: ''Klansville, U.S.A.: The Rise and Fall of the Civil Rights-Era Ku Klux Klan'' (2013), which was the basis for the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

American Experience ''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...

documentary, Klansville USA, and ''There’s Something Happening Here: The New Left, the Klan, and FBI Counterintelligence'' (2004). From 1999 to 2015, Cunningham was a professor at

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

. From 2008 to 2015, he served as the Chair of the Social Justice and Social Policy program at Brandeis, and from 2012 to 2015, he served as Chair of the Sociology Department. In 2015, he became one of the three inaugural faculty members to reestablish the sociology department in

Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis is home to the College of Arts and Sciences and corresponding graduate programs across its many departments. The current Dean of the Faculty is Feng Sheng Hu, the Lucille P. Markey Distingui ...

, along with Adia Harvey Wingfield and Jake Rosenfeld. He has been featured and interviewed for numerous publications and news sources including: ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'',

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

, and

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

. He is also a prolific writer and reviewer, and he has published dozens of pieces in both academic and news publications, which are frequently on the KKK. Some of these pieces include: his 2016 opinion article in ''

'': "Five myths about the Ku Klux Klan"; his co-authored 2014 journal article "Political Polarization as a Social Movement Outcome: 1960s Klan Activism and Its Enduring Impact on Political Realignment in Southern Counties, 1960 to 2000" in the

American Sociological Review The ''American Sociological Review'' is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of sociology. It is published by SAGE Publications on behalf of the American Sociological Association. It was established in 1936. It is along ...

; and his 2005 article in ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'': "All the Klan's men". Cunningham has also served as a consultant in many capacities. He has worked as an academic consultant for

WGBH Educational Foundation The WGBH Educational Foundation, doing business as GBH since August 2020, is an American public broadcasting group based in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1951, it holds the licenses to all of the PBS member stations in Massachusetts, a ...

and

Facing History and Ourselves Facing History & Ourselves is a global non-profit organization founded in 1976. The organization's mission is to "use lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate." The organization is based in Bost ...

; was a consulting expert for ''Moore et al. v. Franklin County, MS'' and ''Averill et al. v. City of Seattle;'' and has been a research collaborator for the

Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project The Civil Rights Restorative Justice Project is an initiative by the Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts, to document every racially motivated killing in the American South between 1930 and 1970. The project aims to serve ...

Northeastern University School of Law The Northeastern University School of Law is the law school of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. History Northeastern University School of Law was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in 1898 as the f ...

for over ten years, the Mississippi Truth Project, and the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He also was a consulting expert for the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

for two years, providing expert testimony in a case against the Denver Police Department looking at the impact of police surveillance.

Positions held

Cunningham has held various leadership positions in his academic career, including current Chair of the Department of Sociology in

and former Chair of the Department of Sociology at

. Since 2016, he has served on the editorial board of the

and since 2018, he has been on the executive board of the Washington University Prison Education Project.

Within the American Sociological Association

Cunningham has served on several committees and has held several positions within the

American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fi ...

. He is currently on the Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE); previously spent four years on the Council for the Section on Peace, War and Social Conflict; and was the Chair of the Gordon Hirabayashi Human Rights Book Award committee within the Section on Human Rights - among several other positions. He has especially had extensive involvement in the ASA's Section on Collective Behavior & Social Movements. Between 2007 and 2014, he has served on its council, Workshop Committee, Mentoring Committee, Outstanding Article Award Committee, and Mayer Zald Outstanding Graduate Paper Award Committee.

Awards and honors

Cunningham has won numerous awards for his research, writing, and teaching, which include: * 2019 Robin M. Williams Award for Distinguished Contributions to Scholarship, Teaching, and Service - Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section of the

* 2015 Best Published Article Award - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements of the

ASA Asa may refer to: People and fictional characters * Asa (given name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters so named * Asa people, an ethnic group based in Tanzania * Aṣa, Nigerian-French singer, songwriter, and reco ...

* 2007 Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer '69 and Joseph Neubauer Prize for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring -

''Klansville, U.S.A.''

His most recent book, ''Klansville, U.S.A.'', has been the recipient of many accolades: * Outstanding Book Award -

, Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section * Finalist, C. Wright Mills Award, Society for the Study of Social Problems * Honorable Mention, Charles Tilly Award for Best Book,

Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, David Living people American sociologists Washington University in St. Louis faculty Brandeis University faculty University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni University of Connecticut alumni 21st-century American social scientists Year of birth missing (living people) American male non-fiction writers American political writers 21st-century American historians