James M. Thomas

James M. Thomas (JT) is professor of sociology at the University of Mississippi, co-director of the University of Mississippi’s Coalition for the Study of Race and Racism, and co-editor of the ASA journal, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. He is the author or co-author of six books, and over forty journal articles, book chapters, and invited essays on the causes and consequences of race and racism in America and abroad. His research has been funded by the American Sociological Association, the National Science Foundation, and the Russell Sage Foundation, and has been featured in popular media outlets like The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and Pacific Standard. JT is deeply dedicated to public scholarship, regularly writing for mainstream outlets like The Mississippi Free Press, serving on the boards of non-profit organizations, and giving public lectures on race, racism, and inequality to academic and lay audiences alike. JT’s most recent books are The Souls of Jewish Folk: W.E.B. Du Bois, Antisemitism, and the Color Line (University of Georgia Press, 2023) and The Power of Sociology: Grasping Our Unequal World (Sage, 2026).