John Womack, Jr., was born, the first of five children, in Norman, Oklahoma, in 1937. He was educated in Norman public schools, the Thomas Jefferson school (St. Louis, Mo.), Harvard College (A.B., 1959), Oxford University (1959-61), where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and Harvard University (Ph.D., 1966). He taught the history of Latin America to undergraduates and graduate students there from 1965 to 2009, when he retired. He directed and co-directed 45 doctoral dissertations. Since he retired, he has continued his historical work on Mexico.

He thanks Kaelie Barnard for the design and production of this website.

Curriculum Vitae

  • 1943-51

    Public Schools, Norman, Oklahoma

    1951-55

    Thomas Jefferson School, St. Louis, Missouri

    1955-59

    Harvard College, A.B., summa cum laude, History; thesis, “Oklahoma’s Green Corn Rebellion: The Importance of Fools,” 1959

    1959-61

    Rhodes Scholar, University of Oxford, reading for B. Phil. in Politics (failed); thesis, “Political Activity in the Nazi Concentration Camps, 1933-1945,” 1961

    1961-65

    Harvard University, Ph.D., Latin American History; dissertation, “Emiliano Zapata and the Revolution in Morelos, 1910-1920,” 1965

  • 1951-57

    Common laborer, mainly construction, summers, Norman, Oklahoma

    1958

    Driver, summer, The Railway Express Company, Norman, Oklahoma

    1959

    Reporter, summer, The Louisville Times, Louisville, Kentucky

    1965-68

    Instructor in History, Harvard University

    1968-70

    Assistant Professor of History, Harvard University

    1970-82

    Professor of History, Harvard University

    1982-85

    Chairman of the Department of History, Harvard University

    1982-2009

    Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics, Harvard University

    1992-93

    Acting Chairman of the Department of History, Harvard University

  • 1970

    The Herbert Eugene Bolton Memorial Prize, awarded by the Conference on Latin American History; the Premio Sahagún, awarded by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico; and finalist, National Book Award, for Zapata and the Mexican Revolution.

    1979

    Honorable Mention, by the Conference on Latin American History, for “The Mexican Economy during the Revolution, 1910-1920: Historiography and Analysis."

    1989

    Honorary Member, Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía e Historia

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