Carl Neumann Degler (February 6, 1921 – December 27, 2014) was an American
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
and
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-winning author. He was the Margaret Byrne Professor of American History
Emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
.
Early life and education
Degler was born on February 6, 1921, in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.[U.S. Army Air Force
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...]
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 Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church) and located in East Orange in Essex County, New Jersey in the United States. Upsala was founded in ...
, and master's and doctoral degrees from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
.
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, closely follo ...
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. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...
. 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 history ...
for his book ''
Neither Black nor White'' (1971), a work comparing
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
and race relations in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. He earlier wrote ''Out of Our Past'' (1959), a study of United States history that is currently used in high school and college classrooms and study chambers throughout the United States.
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 ...
at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. He was a member of both the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) 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 ...
and the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
.
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 "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...
, on December 27, 2014, at the age of 93.
Bibliography
Degler's works include:
*''Out of Our Past: The Forces That Shaped Modern America'' (1959)
*''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)
*''At Odds: Women and the Family in America from the Revolution to the Present'' (1981)
*''In Search of Human Nature: The Decline and Revival of Darwinism in American Social Thought'' (1991)
*''The Third American Revolution'' (1959)
References
Further reading
* Degler, Carl N. "Vassar College." in ''American Places, Encounters with History'' ed. by Willian Leuchtenburg (2000) pp 93–103, memoir of his role as an assistant professor.
* Peterson, Barbara Bennett. "In Memoriam: Carl Degler, 1921–2014." ''Pacific Historical Review ''84.3 (2015): 405–407.
External links
"In Pursuit of an American History"1986
AHA Presidential Address
The Pulitzer Prizes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Degler, Carl N.
1921 births
2014 deaths
Writers from Newark, New Jersey
United States Army Air Forces soldiers
Historians of the United States
Presidents of the American Historical Association
Bancroft Prize winners
Pulitzer Prize for History winners
Upsala College alumni
Columbia University alumni
Stanford University Department of History faculty
Brazilianists
Historians of slavery
Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professors of American History
Historians from New Jersey
United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II
Members of the American Philosophical Society
National Organization for Women people