Douglas Bristol, Jr.

Douglas is a historian of the African American experience and military history. He studies the beliefs, institutions, and strategies that ordinary Americans used to exercise control over their lives. He is an associate professor of history and a Fellow of the Dale Center for the Study of War and Society at the University of Southern Mississippi. The Smithsonian, Duke University, and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library have awarded him post-doctoral fellowships. He was the 2021-2023 Buford "Buff" Blount Professor of Military History. He is a member of the Editorial Board for the Quarterly Journal of the Army War College, Parameters. He is the author of Knights of the Razor: Black Barbers in Slavery and Freedom and contributing co-editor of Integrating the U.S. Military: Race, Gender, and Sexuality since World War II. His latest book, Building Bridges: Black GIs, Military Labor, and the Fight for Equality in World War II, looks at how Black GIs in the U.S. service forces made themselves indispensable to keeping the American war machine running around the globe, and in the process, began the desegregation of the military. His interviews have been included in the Christian Science Monitor and the New York Times along with the PBS documentary Boss: The Black Experience in Business. He lives in New Orleans with his dog Jack.