- For the senior circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, see James L. Oakes.
| James Oakes | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 19, 1953 |
James Oakes is a Distinguished Professor of History and Graduate School Humanities Professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York where he teaches history courses on the Civil War and Reconstruction, Slavery, the Old South, Abolitionism and U.S and World History. Oakes was born in the Bronx on December 19, 1953, attended Catholic schools in New York City before enrolling at Baruch College, CUNY, where he earned a B.A. in history in 1974. He taught previously at Princeton and Northwestern Universities.
Oakes earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, under the late Kenneth Stampp, author of The Peculiar Institution among other notable titles. Oakes has written and published many articles and encyclopedia entries. His previous books include The Ruling Race: A History of American Slaveholders and Slavery and Freedom: An Interpretation of the Old South. His 2008 book, The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics was a co-winner of the 2008 Lincoln Prize. Oakes' book is notable for presenting a new framework with which to compare Lincoln and Douglass and their views of race. The Lincoln Prize jury also noted that Oakes succeeded in creating a scholarly work which was accessible to the general public.
Oakes currently lives in Manhattan with his wife, Deborah Bohr, a health research adminsitrator, and their son, Daniel.
http://www.gc.cuny.edu/press_information/current_releases/2008/february/Oakes.htm THE GRADUATE CENTER, CUNY: Press Information]</ref>
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His most recent work focuses on Emancipation and how it was implemented throughout the Southern states.