James Gregory

I am a professor of History and former director of the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies. I currently serve as president of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association and previously as president of the Labor and Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA). 

My research and teaching center on four aspects of 20th century United States history: (1) labor history, particularly the history of American radicalism; (2) regionalism, both the West and the South; (3) race and civil rights history; (4) migration, especially inside the United States.

I am the author of American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California (awarded the Ray Allen Billington Prize from the OAH and the Annual Book Award from the Pacific Coast Branch of the AHA) and The Southern Diaspora: How the Great Migrations of Black and White Southerners Transformed America (winner of the Philip Taft Labor History Book Prize) . Recent publications  include the edited book The Seattle General Strike Centennial Edition, authored by Robert L. Friedheim with an introduction, photo essay, and afterword by James N. Gregory.

Much of my current work focuses on American social movements and the political geography of radicalism. The Mapping American Social Movements Project  produces and publishes interactive maps and visualizations about dozens of social movements that have influenced American life and politics during the 20th century, including radical political parties, Black freedom movements, Chicanx/Latinx movements, labor movements, women’s movements, antiwar and environmentalist movements, LGBTQ activism. I develop key observations from the mapping project and a reinterpretation of the history of American radicalism in "Remapping the American Left: A History of Radical Discontinuity," Labor: Studies in Working Class History (May 2020), an essay that began as my presidential address to the Labor and Working-Class History Association.

In addition, I am active in the field of digital and public history, directing a collection of online sites grouped as the Civil Rights and Labor History Consortium.  These include the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project  and America's Great Migrations Project. 

The Racial Restrictive Covenants Project is the most recent endeavor. Authorized by the Washington legislature under HB 1335 (May 2021), this project is charged with identifying and mapping neighborhoods marked by racist deed provisions and restrictive covenants. With more than 80,000 restricted properties identified so far, the project provided the research for the  Covenant Homeownership Account Act  (HB1474) that is compensating victims of restrictive covenants. In recognition of this work, I received the  John Lewis Award for History and Social Justice from the American Historical Association in 2024 for "leadership and sustained engagement at the intersection of historical work and social justice."