Carl N. Degler

Carl Degler was the Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Emeritus, at Stanford University. In 1972, he won the Pulitzer Prize for history for his book, Neither Black nor White, a work comparing slavery and race relations in Brazil and the United States. He taught and researched at Stanford University from 1968 until his retirement in 1990. Degler began his career as a professor in 1952 at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where he taught for 16 years before coming to Stanford. Once on the Farm, he served as the leading adviser for 23 graduate students who completed doctoral degrees in American history and are now teaching in higher education across the country.  He was born on February 6, 1921, in Newark, N.J. From 1942 to 1945 he served in the U.S. Army Air Force in India. Afterwards, he earned his master's (1947) and doctoral (1952) degrees in American history from Columbia University, and a bachelor's degree in history from Upsala College. At Columbia, he met Catherine Grady, and they were married nearly 50 years until her death. Read Professor Degler's full obituary in Stanford News.