Robert Perkinson

Perkinson is a political and social historian with expertise in the rise of mass incarceration. His award-winning book, Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire traced the entwinement of racism and criminal justice from slavery to the present, with an emphasis on the country’s most locked-down state. He is currently conducting research on the history of U.S. social movements, with an eye toward understanding what strategies, structures, and leadership styles most often lead to victories from below. He is coordinator of UH’s Better Tomorrow Speaker Series, an initiative sponsored by SSN, and is involved in Covid response planning.