Jim Horton

I am saddened to learn that beloved and distinguished historian James Horton has passed away.  James was for much of his career a professor at George Washington University.  He wrote a number of important works in African American history, including In Hope of Liberty: Culture, Community, and Protest Among Northern Free Blacks, 1700-1860, Slavery and the Making of America (with Lois Horton), Black Bostonians: Family Life and Community Struggle in the Antebellum North (with Lois Horton), and Hard Road to Freedom: The Story of Africa America (with Lois Horton), and an edited volume Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory (co-edited with Lois Horton).  Like many other historians of the pre-Civil War era and of African American history, I have been a beneficiary of Jim's and Lois' mentoring.  But one vignette stands out in my mind — back in spring 2006 when I was visiting at the University of Hawaii I read Slavery and Public History and then a few days later I was walking in Waikiki and — astonishingly — I saw Jim and Lois walking down the sidewalk, coming the other way.  We were all surprised to see each other so far from the east coast!  They were visiting, too, at Hawaii that semester.  And then followed the chance to spend some quality time together in such an ideal place.  I know that Jim and Lois has such a wonderful time in Hawaii, where they had spent some time in their younger years.  I recall hearing that Jim had some health problems in recent years and I'm very sorry to hear of his passing.  GW's memorial notice is here.