Dr. Elizabeth Hinton

Biography

Elizabeth Hinton is the Class of 1954 Professor of History and Black Studies at Yale University. Her research focuses on the persistence of poverty, racial inequality, and urban violence in the 20th century United States. Hinton's book 'War on Poverty, War Crime: Making Mass Incarceration America' published by Harvard University Press, examines how federal law enforcement programs beginning in the mid-1960s transformed domestic social policies, expanded policing in low-income communities, and facilitated the dramatic expansion of the U.S. prison system. This work has received numerous accolades, including the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award from the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Her recent publication, 'America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion in the 1960s', won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. This book offers a new framework for understanding police abuse as part of a broader, systemic repression of Black people in post-civil rights America. Hinton's articles and op-eds have appeared in prominent publications such as Science, Nature, and the New York Times. She coedited 'New Black History: Revisiting Reconstruction', and served on the National Academies of Sciences Committee on Reducing Racial Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System. Hinton previously held positions at Harvard University and the University of Michigan, where she was a Postdoctoral Scholar and Assistant Professor.

Research Interests