Matt Harris Ph.D.

Dr. Matthew L. Harris is a specialist in US history with a particular focus in religion and the law, church and state, Legal history, American Religions, civil rights, and Mormon Studies. He received a BA and MA in history from Brigham Young University and an MPhil and PhD, also in history, from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality (Oxford University Press, 2024); Watchman on the Tower: Ezra Taft Benson and the Making of the Mormon Right (University of Utah Press, 2020); Thunder from the Right: Ezra Taft Benson in Mormonism and Politics (University of Illinois Press, 2019); The Mormon Church and Blacks: A Documentary History (University of Illinois Press, 2015); and (with Thomas S. Kidd) The Founding Fathers and the Debate over Religion in Revolutionary America (Oxford University Press, 2012). He is currently at work on two book-length manuscripts: J. Reuben Clark and the Making of Modern Mormonism (under contract; University of Illinois Press); and Hugh B. Brown: Mormonism’s Progressive Apostle (under contract; Signature Books). His article “Mormonism’s Problematic Racial Past and the Evolution of the Divine-Curse Doctrine,” published in The John Whitmer Historical Society Journal, won the Vera Jean and J. Talmage Jones Award from the Mormon History Association in 2014. His work has been featured on CSPAN, the Religious News Service, and dozens of social media outlets. In addition, he has been interviewed by Newsweek, Longreads, and several other national news outlets for his expertise on right-wing extremism.

Dr. Harris teaches a broad array of courses at CSU Pueblo, including Religion and Politics, Origins of the Constitution, US Legal history, Civil Rights, American Religions, and the Civil War. During his tenure at CSU Pueblo, he has won several university-wide awards, including the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Students’ Choice Award and the Provost’s Award for Scholarly and Creative Activity.

Dr. Harris served as the chair of the history department from 2010-2013 and director of the graduate program in history from 2009-2016. He currently directs the Legal Studies program at CSU Pueblo.