Marcy Sacks
Julian S. Rammelkamp Professor of History
Sacks is the Julian S. Rammelkamp Endowed Professor of History. She has enjoyed a long and distinguished career at Albion dating back to 1999 that includes serving for three years as associate director of the Gerald R. Ford Institute for Public Policy and Service. She also held the John S. Ludington endowed professorship.
She is nationally known for her research on African American and Civil War history. Her scholarship includes two books: “Joe Louis: Sports and Race in Twentieth Century America” (with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities) and “Before Harlem: The Black Experience in New York City Before World War I.” She has also written book chapters and articles, the most recent of which (“’I Shall Forward to You My Contraband’: Tracing Wartime Black Movement North Through an Incomplete Archive”) won the John T. Hubbell Prize in 2025.
Her public-facing scholarship has included blog posts on the history of policing in New York City, a presentation at Lincoln Center about the historic neighborhood of San Juan Hill where the cultural venue was built, and contributing to a documentary film about that neighborhood. She has given a workshop to teachers at New York City’s Tenement Museum.
Her current book-length research projects are titled, “There is Nothing Like Having a Slave: White Union Soldiers’ Racial Fantasies during the U.S. Civil War” and “The Other Side of Reconstruction: Black Northerners Confront the Aftermath of Southern Emancipation.”
Among the courses she teaches are U.S. History from Colonization to the Civil War, African American History to the Civil War, African American History 1865 – Present, The Civil War and Reconstruction, and Road to Revolution.
Student drop-in hours for Fall 2025: Tuesdays 10am–12pm, and 2-3pm and by appointment: email [email protected].
Education
- Ph.D. University of California at Berkeley, (History), 1999
- M.A., University of California at Berkeley (History), 1993
- B.S., Cornell University (Industrial and Labor Relations), 1991
Courses
- U.S. History from Colonization to the Civil War
- African American History to the Civil War
- African American History 1865 – Present
- The Civil War and Reconstruction
- U.S. Immigration History
- Road to Revolution
Areas of Interest
- African American History
- U.S. Social and Cultural History
Publications
Current Research Projects
- “‘There is Nothing Like Having a Slave’: White Union Soldiers’ Racial Fantasies during the U.S. Civil War”
- “The Other Side of Reconstruction: Black Northerners Confront the Aftermath of Southern Emancipation.”
Books
- Joe Louis: Sports and Race in Twentieth Century America. Routledge (April 2018).
- Before Harlem: The Black Experience in New York City Before World War I. University of Pennsylvania Press (October 2006).
Public-Facing Scholarship
- “A History of the Black Community in San Juan Hill: 1900-1915,” Lincoln Center (NYC) website.
- “Joe Louis, the Punch of Detroit,” The Detroit History Podcast, Season 5, Episode 1.
- “Helping Humans Cope: The Popularity of Pandemic Pets and Civil War Companion Animals,” June 29, 2021. (blog post for Muster, the blog for the Journal of the Civil War Era).
- “‘Skull Trouble’: A Brief History of Police Harassment of Black New Yorkers,” April 23, 2020. (blog post)
Selected Articles
- “‘They Are Truly Marvelous Cats’: The Importance of Companion Animals to U.S. Soldiers during the Civil War,” Journal of the Civil War Era (June 2021).
- “Promoting Inclusivity in Academia: A Case Study in Taking Underrepresented Students to the Archives in the United States,” in Faculty as Global Learners: Opportunities and Strategies to Support Off-Campus Study Leaders at Liberal Arts Colleges, Joan Gillespie et al., eds. (Lever Press, 2020). Featured guest on associated podcast, Postcard Pedagogy.
- “Speaking Through Silence? Whites’ Efforts to Make Meaning of Joe Louis,” in Cultures of Boxing, David Scott, ed. (Peter Lang, 2015).
- “Behind the Brown Mask: Joe Louis’s Face and the Construction of Racial Mythologies,” in ConFiguring America: Iconic Figures, Visuality, and the American Identity, Michael Fuchs, ed. (2013)
- “Rand Paul and the Danger of Careless Rhetoric About Civil Rights.” Christian Science Monitor 5/26/2010.
- Entry for “Harlem Property Owners Association,” in The Encyclopedia of African American History. Facts on File, 2010.
- Entries for “Harlem,” “The New York Age,” and “The New Negro,” in The Encyclopedia of African American History. Oxford University Press, 2009.
- “Recreating Black New York at Century’s End,” in Slavery in New York, Ira Berlin and Leslie Harris, ed. The New Press, 2005: 325-349; book published in conjunction with 2005 exhibit at the New-York Historical Society.
Awards
- Residency Research Fellow, Institute for Historical Studies, University of Michigan (2006-2007)
- National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship ($40,000; 2006-2007)
- Seminar Participant, “Slavery and Public History,” sponsored by the Council of Independent Colleges and the Gilder Lehrman Institute (Columbia University, August 8-11, 2004)
- Faculty Diversity Award, Albion College, 2003 (sponsored by the President’s Advisory Committee on Multicultural Affairs)
- Faculty Development Grants, Albion College, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
- History and Culture Fellow, Albion College, 2000-2001
- Emerson Grant, Hamilton College, 1998
- New Jersey Historical Commission Research Grant, 1995-1996
- Eugene Irving McCormac Graduate Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley, 1995-1996
- New York State Library Research Resident, 1995
- Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, University of California, 1995