About Benjamin

Benjamin Weber is a scholar of African American History, Critical Carceral Studies, and Black Social and Political Thought, and an Assistant Professor of African American & African Studies at the University of California, Davis. He has worked as a Senior Associate at the Vera Institute of Justice and Alternate ROOTS, a Researcher on the Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project, and a public High School Teacher in East Los Angeles.

Benjamin received his PhD in History from Harvard University, and an MAT in Social Studies Education from Brown University. He has been recognized for his teaching and multimedia work, including being named the National Council of Social Studies (NCSS) Outstanding Teacher of the Year for the United States, receiving Harvard’s Derek Bok Center Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, and winning an Omni Gold Award for The Calderwood U.S. History Series produced by WGBH Boston for PBS Learning Media.

His research, writing, and public engagement work has been supported by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, American Council of Learned Societies, National Endowment for the Humanities, Open Society Foundation, Council on Library and Information Resources, Charles Warren Center for American History, and Harvard’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.