Donald Yacovone (born February 25, 1952) is an American researcher, writer and academic who primarily specializes in African American History.^[1] In 2013, he co-authored with Henry Louis Gates Jr the book based on the PBS television series The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross.

Education

Born on February 25, 1952, in Hartford, Connecticut, to Alfred F. and Mary E. (Ostrowska) Yacovone,^[2] Donald Yacovone earned his Bachelor of Science from Southern Connecticut State University in 1974. He went on to earn a Master of Arts from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1977 and then earned his Doctor of Philosophy from Claremont Graduate School in 1984.^[2]

Career

In 2013, Yacovone co-authored The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross^[3] with Henry Louis Gates Jr, a book of the television series hosted by Gates Jr.^[4] The book has been criticized by some for not dating back to pre-slavery times.^[5][6][7]

He is the research manager at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at ^[8] and an associate at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, both at Harvard University.^[9] Yacovone has written for The Chronicle of Higher Education on the topic of racism through history in textbooks and in academia.^[10]

In 2022, Yacovone's book, Teaching White Supremacy: America’s Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of our National Identity, was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History.^[11]