Lois Horton

Lois E. Horton (September 27, 1942 – September 22, 2021) was an American historian, specializing in African American history. She co-authored numerous foundational studies of nineteenth-century African American history and abolitionism.

Career
She received her Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 1977. A highly respected, interdisciplinary scholar, she was especially well known for groundbreaking work on antebellum Black history and abolitionism. Much of her work was co-authored with the eminent historian James Oliver Horton, who also was her husband. Together, the Hortons published some of the foundational work on nineteenth-century African American history, greatly contributing to historians' understanding of U.S. history more broadly.

She was professor emeritus of history at George Mason University. Before her retirement, she held the Distinguished John Adams Chair in American History at George Mason, and visited the University of Amsterdam as a Fulbright scholar.