Thomas C. Holt is the James Westfall Thompson Professor Emeritus of American and African American History at the University of Chicago. His research compares the experiences of people in the African diaspora, particularly those living in the Caribbean and the United States. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Holt is an award-winning author: The Problem of Freedom: Race, Labor, and Politics in Jamaica and Britain, 1832-1938 was awarded the 1995 Elsa Goveia Prize by the Association of Caribbean Historians and Black Over White: Negro Political Leadership in South Carolina During Reconstruction was awarded the 1978 Charles S. Sydnor Prize by the Southern Historical Association.