Dr Thomas Cryer Historian of the United States
Historian of education, ideas, memory, and race in the twentieth-century United States.
About Me
Welcome! I'm a historian of the United States whose work explores how education, race, ideas, and memory have shaped American society and global power since the late 19th century. My research investigates the politics of knowledge — how history is written, taught, and remembered — and how these practices influence both national identity and international diplomacy.
I currently serve as a Department Lecturer in twentieth-century American History at St Anne's College, Oxford, having completed a BA(Hons) and MPhil at Cambridge and a PhD at University College London's Institute of the Americas.
Award-Winning Research
My research has been published in Modern American History, the Journal of American Studies, and Modern Intellectual History (among others) and is forthcoming in multiple journals and edited volumes. So please do watch this space!
My first article, on the uses and misuses of Black history during the 1963 Emancipation Centennial, won both the Historians of the Twentieth-Century United States' 2025 Early-Career Article Prize and the British Association for American Studies' 2025 Arthur Miller Institute Article Prize.
My PhD thesis ('Walking the Tightrope': John Hope Franklin and the Dilemmas of African American History in Action) won the 2026 Leo P. Ribuffo Dissertation Prize, granted by S-USIH to the best thesis in U.S. Intellectual History submitted in 2025.
My research has been recognised with 28 awards and research grants, and I have presented it on over 50 occasions to both leading academic conferences and public audiences exceeding 500 people.
Creative, Inclusive, and Innovative Teacher and Public Speaker
As an experienced Lecturer in American History, I am committed to fostering inclusive, critical, and globally minded approaches to American history. I have designed and delivered modules, including:
The Making of Modern America, 1863 - Present
America's Hidden Empire:
Built to Exclude? Race and Resistance in American Higher Education, 1636 - Present
I'm proud to be an AFHEA-recognised teacher and have translated my interests in innovative and inclusive pedagogy into organising and participating in several teaching-focused conferences, workshops, and publications.
I am always delighted to speak in schools about U.S. history and politics. If you are interested in a talk, please do reach out!
Event Organisation and Leadership
I have a robust track record of organising and leading events that connect academic research with public and professional audiences. As Chair of History Lab and the Southern Historical Association's International Graduate Network, I helped to organise a variety of seminars, panels, and eight conferences, ranging from the pedagogy-focused History UK, History Lab, and History Lab Plus conference, Teaching History in a Time of Crisis, to the 2025 University of Edinburgh Southern History Workshop, Coming through the Fire: Change and Continuity in Southern History.
Podcaster and Editor
Intellectual history can often be difficult to understand! As a podcaster and editor, I'm passionate about making the latest scholarship accessible and engaging. As a host on the New Books in American Studies podcast, I’ve interviewed leading scholars on topics from the politics of knowledge to the history of education and liberalism. Meanwhile, at U.S. Studies Online and the Journal of the History of Ideas Blog, I commissioned and edited pieces ranging from Black women's cinema to mid-twentieth-century 'little' magazines. I am always keen to hear about collaborative projects.
Policy
I bring a nuanced, historical understanding of policy through experiences such as my UKRI-funded internship at the Royal Society, where I contributed to shaping a broad, balanced, and connected school curriculum designed to prepare students for future careers. I'm always delighted to discuss the role of history and universities in society.
