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Associate Professor
512 Pauli Murray Hall
Office Hours
jaj@email.unc.edu

Education

MA Tufts University, 1986
PhD Rutgers University, 1995

Research Interests

Jerma A. Jackson’s main research interest is twentieth century social and cultural history, with a special interest on African American life, religion, music and women’s history. In her first book Jackson engaged music to examine black life and culture, tracing gospel from its beginnings as a mode of worship to its expansion into commercialized culture during the forties and fifties. Jackson uses the music to examine some of the mounting changes that unfolded in the twentieth century—expanding industrialization and urban migration, the growth of consumer values and materialism, and the emergence of mass produced culture.

Some Notable Publications

  • Singing in My Soul: Black Gospel Music in a Secular Age (UNC Press, 2004)

Graduate Students

  • This faculty member is not accepting applicants for the 2023-2024 cycle
  • Courses Taught (as schedule allows)

    For current information about course offerings, click here.

    • HIST 128—United States History Since 1865
    • HIST 569—African American Women’s History