Photo courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives
An historian and professor of American Studies, James Oliver Horton is the author or co-author of nine nonfiction books, including City of Magnificent Intentions: A History of the District of Columbia (1983), and the Pulitzer Prize-nominated In Hope of Liberty: Culture, Community and Protest (1997).
Horton was Benjamin Banneker Professor of American Studies at George Washington University from 1977 to 2008. He also taught at the University of Michigan, and the University of Munich (where he was the Senior Fulbright Professor). He was an inspiring teacher, recognized for teaching excellence with awards from the Carnegie Foundation, the CASE Professor of the Year award, and the GWU Trachtenberg Distinguished Teaching Award. He served as President of the Organization of American Historians, and was elected to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Horton was also an advocate of public history exhibits and historical sites. He served as the African American Communities Project Director at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History, as a senior advisor on historical interpretation and public education for the National Park Service, and worked with PBS on their “Slavery and the Making of American History” television series. He was appointed to the White House Millennium Council, and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, as well as the advisory board of the National Park System. He made frequent appearances on television shows on The History Channel, and curated exhibits for the New York Historical Society. In addition, Horton was series editor of Oxford University Press’s “Landmarks of American History” Series.
The Homes
2205 Burgee Court, Reston, VA
James Oliver Horton
2205 Burgee Court, Reston, VA
Located in Northern Virginia