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Jeffrey Gonda

Jeffrey Gonda

(Pronouns: He, Him)

Contact Information:

jdgonda@syr.edu

315.443.9503

318 Eggers Hall

Jeffrey Gonda

Associate Professor, History Department


Senior Research Associate, Campbell Public Affairs Institute

Courses

  • 2024 Fall
    • HST 495 Distinction Thesis in History
    • HST 331 Race & Sport in U.S. History
  • 2024 Spring
    • HST 331 Race & Sport in U.S. History
    • HST 300 Selected Topics - Power, Politics& Global Sports
  • 2023 Fall
    • HST 715 Readings and Research in American History - Race in U.S. History
  • 2023 Spring
    • HST 496 Distinction Thesis in History
    • HST 331 Race & Sport in U.S. History
    • HST 400 Selected Topics - Pwr, Politics, & Global Sport
  • 2022 Fall
    • HST 495 Distinction Thesis in History
    • IRP 403 Global Issues
    • PAI 715 Topics in Global Development - Politics, Power, & Glob Sport
  • 2022 Spring
    • HST 102 American History Since 1865

Highest degree earned

Ph.D., Yale University, 2012

Bio

Jeffrey Gonda specializes in legal history and the history of the civil rights movement. He is the author of "Unjust Deeds: The Restrictive Covenant Cases and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement" (University of North Carolina Press, 2015) which examines how the legal fight against housing discrimination in the 1940s and the landmark case of Shelley v. Kraemer (1948) helped transform civil rights litigation in the twentieth century.

In 2015, Gonda’s research on the Shelley case received the Supreme Court Historical Society’s prestigious Hughes-Gossett Award. He is currently working on a new book entitled "No Crystal Stair: Black Women and Civil Rights Law in Postwar America" which explores the largely unheralded role of African American women lawyers and litigants in the civil rights struggles of the 1940s and 1950s. He was named a Charles Warren Fellow at Harvard University in 2016 while working on this new manuscript.

Gonda received the Maxwell School’s Moynihan Award for Teaching and Research, and Syracuse University’s Meredith Teaching Recognition Award. Gonda teaches a variety of courses on the history of social movements, law, sports and race. 

Areas of Expertise

African American history
20th century U.S. legal and social history
Sport History

Research Grant Awards and Projects

"Imagining History, Doing Politics: The Uses and Disadvantages of the Past: Charles Warren Fellow", Sponsored by Harvard University.

Selected Publications

  • Book
    • Gonda, J. D., Unjust Deeds: The Restrictive Covenant Cases and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement. University of North Carolina Press, 2019.
  • Journal Articles
    • Gonda, J. D., "As Much Right to Live in a House as Anybody: Black Women and the Fight for Housing Integration in the 1940s." Journal of Civil and Human Rights, 2019.
    • Gonda, J. D., "Litigating Racial Justice at the Grassroots: The Shelley Family, Black Realtors, and Shelley v. Kraemer (1948)." Journal of Supreme Court History, 2014.
  • Book Chapter
    • Gonda, J. D., "The American Ghetto as an International Human Rights Crisis, 1945-48." In The Ghetto in Global History: 1500 to the Present. Trotter , J. W., Goldman, W. Z. (eds.) Routledge, 2017.
  • Book Reviews
    • Fields, S. K., Gonda, J. D., "Game Faces: Sport, Celebrity, and the Laws of Reputation." Sport History, 2018.
    • Kubic, M. W., Gonda, J. D., "Freedom Inc. and Black Political Empowerment." American History, 2017.
    • Quigley, J., Gonda, J. D., "Just Another Southern Town: Mary Church Terrell and the Struggle for Racial Justice in the Nation’s Capital." Social History, 2016.
    • Francis, M. M., Gonda, J. D., "Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State." American History, 2015.
    • McLeod, J. A., Gonda, J. D., "Daughter of the Empire State: The Life of Judge Jane Bolin." New York History, 2014.
    • Brooks, R. R., Rose, C. M. and Gonda, J. D., "Saving the Neighborhood: Racially Restrictive Covenants, Law, and Social Norms." American Ethnic History, 2014.
    • Brooks, D., Althouse, R. and Gonda, J. D., "Racism in College Athletics (3rd Edition)." Sport History, 2014.

Presentations and Events

Fighting Racism and Creating Gender Equity in European Football, Harvard University Global Sports Initiative and Nottingham Forest Football Club, "Athlete Activism and Fighting Racism: A Workshop for Stakeholders" (December, 2023 - January, 2024)

Center for Strategic and International Studies, "Separation of Powers: Law, Courts, and Contemporary American Politics" (2022)

Law & Society Association Annual Conference, "A Death in Greensboro: Race, Gender, Class, and the Case of Pauline W" (2019)

Law & Society Association Annual Conference, "Law & Order in the 1960s and 1970s" (2019)

Syracuse Stage Lecture Series, Syracuse Stage, "Dreams Deferred: Race and Housing in Raisin in the Sun" (2018)

Honors and Accolades

2016-2017 Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Teaching Recognition Award, Syracuse University (April, 2017)