Isaac Hampton

Isaac W. Hampton II is an Army veteran and earned his Ph.D. in 20th Century U.S. History from the University of Houston where his research focused on the condition of the African American officers’ experience concerning unfair promotion, systemic racism, and the influence of the Black Power movement on African Americans serving in uniform during the Vietnam era. He received his Master’s in history from Texas Southern University. Hampton is currently a historian for the U.S. Army and has also worked as a curator and historian for the U.S. Air Force. As an educator, Dr. Hampton has more than fifteen years of university teaching experience where he taught courses on Vietnam, African American, and U.S. Military history. Dr. Hampton has been a guest speaker at the Pentagon, a contributor to PBS-KLRN’s “The Vietnam War: Stories from South Texas” in support of Ken Burn’s “The Vietnam War” series, in addition to the Texas Historical Commission’s documentaries on Texas during the First World War. He has also appeared as a subject matter expert on numerous radio stations and podcasts. His new book is titled, Rise to Command: Black Military Officers’ Stories of Survival and Leadership from World War II through the Cold War will be published in July 2025 with Kansas University Press.

Hampton's first book published by Routledge Press is The Black Officer Corps. A History of Black Military Advancement From Integration Through Vietnam.

Book chapter contributions:

The Long Haul: Historical Case Studies of Sustainment Operations in Large Scale Combat Operations, chapter titled “Vietnam: Building For Peace. Building For Battle” (Army University Press, 2018)

Integrating the U.S. Military. Race, Gender, And Sexual Orientation Since World War II, chapter titled “Reform in Ranks: The History of the Defense Race Relations Institute, 1971-2014” (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017)

The Routledge History of Race in the American Military, chapter titled “The Navy's Search for Black Officers through ROTC and The Edge of Institutional Change” (Routledge Press, 2016)