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al camarillo

Al Camarillo

Professor of American History; Miriam and Peter Haas Centennial Professor in Public Service
Special Assistant to the Provost for Faculty Diversity in charge of the Faculty Development Initiative of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity.

E-mail: camar@stanford.edu

Full Contact Information

At Stanford Since 1975

Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles; BA, University of California at Los Angeles

Bio Sketch

Al Camarillo was born and raised in the South Central Los Angeles community of Compton. After attending the Compton public schools, he entered the University of California at Los Angeles as a freshman in 1966. He continued his education at UCLA in the Ph.D. program in U.S. History where he received his doctorate in 1975 and where his dissertation was nominated that year as one of the best Ph.D. theses in the nation in American history. Camarillo was appointed to the Faculty in the Department of History at Stanford University in 1975, a position he still holds. He has published seven books and over three dozen articles and essays dealing with the experiences of Mexican Americans and other racial and immigrant groups in American cities. Camarillo is widely regarded as one of the founding scholars of the field of Mexican American history and Chicano Studies.

Two of his books, Chicanos in a Changing Society: From Mexican Pueblos to American Barrios (Harvard University Press, 1979, six printings; Southern Methodist University Press edition, March 2005) and Chicanos in California: A History of Mexican Americans (Boyd and Fraser, 1984, four printings) have been widely read. His most recent book comparing the history of various major ethnic and racial minority groups in American cities, entitled Not White, Not Black: Mexicans and Racial/Ethnic Borderlands in American Cities, will be published by Oxford University Press. He is also the co-author of a new textbook on California history to be published by Prentice Hall in 2007 and he is currently working on a book entitled Going Back to Compton: Reflections of a Native Son on Life in an Infamous American City.

Over the course of his career, Camarillo has received many awards and fellowships. Awards for research and writing include a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship and a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship; he was also a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and at the Stanford Humanities Center. His awards for teaching are also numerous. He is the only Faculty member in the history of Stanford University to receive the three highest awards for excellence in teaching and service to undergraduate education. At Stanford’s Commencement in 1988 and in 1994 respectively, he received the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for Outstanding Service to Undergraduate Education and the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 1997, he was awarded the Bing Teaching Fellowship Award for Excellence and Innovation in Undergraduate Teaching. Most recently, Camarillo was awarded the Miriam Roland Prize for Volunteer Service for 2005, an award that recognizes a Stanford Faculty member who “over and above their normal academic duties engage and involve students in integrating academic scholarship with significant volunteer service to society.”

Research Interests

  • Comparative urban histories of ethnic and racial minorities in the US
  • Mexican American history
  • African Americans and Latinos in Contemporary Urban America
  • American West and California

Courses Taught

  • Introduction to Race and Ethnicity in 20th Century America
  • Introduction to Mexican American History
  • Poverty and Homelessness in America
  • California History
  • Twentieth Century America
  • Introduction to Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity
  • Graduate Seminar on Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in 20th Century US
  • Graduate Core Colloquium in American History

Major Publications

  • California – A History of the Golden State (to be published by Prentice Hall, 2007)
  • Not White, Not Black: Mexicans and Racial/Ethnic Borderlands in American Cities (to be published by Oxford University Press)
  • Chicanos in a Changing Society: From Mexican Pueblos to American Barrios, 1850-1930 (Harvard University Press, six printings, 1996; Southern Methodist University Press edition, 2005)
  • Chicanos in California: A History of Mexican Americans (Boyd and Fraser Publishers, 1984, fourth printing)
  • The American Southwest: Myth and Reality (with Ray Allen Billington; Clark Memorial Library Publications, UCLA, 1975)
  • State of Chicano Research in Family, Labor, and Migration Studies (co-editor and author, Stanford University, 1983)
  • Furia y Muerte: Los Bandidos Chicanos (co-author and co-editor, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Publications, 1973)
  • over thirty published articles, essays, and book chapters; three published research bibliographies

Awards:

  • Bing Fellowship Award for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching, 1997-2000
  • Ernest A. Lynton Award for Faculty Professional Service and Academic Outreach, National Honorable Mention, 1997
  • Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching, Stanford University Commencement, 1994
  • Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for Outstanding Service to Undergraduate Education, Stanford University Commencement, 1988

Fellowships:

  • Fellow, Stanford Humanities Center, 1988-89 and 2002-03
  • Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 1994-95 and 1982-83
  • Fellow, The Huntington Library, 1990
  • Rockefeller Foundation Research Fellowship, 1982-83
  • National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship, 1977-78

University Service:

  • Professor of History, Stanford University (1975-present)
  • Miriam and Peter Haas Centennial Professor in Public Service (2001-present)
  • Mellon Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies (1991-94)
  • Director, Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity (1996-2001)
  • Associate Dean and Director of Undergraduate Studies, School of Humanities and Sciences (1992-94)
  • Executive Director, Inter-University Program for Latino Research (1985-88)
  • Director, Stanford Center for Chicano Research (1980-1985)

Professional Affiliations:

  • American Historical Association
  • Division Committee on the Profession, 1987-90
  • Task Force on NAEP, U.S. History Assessment, 1991-92
  • Council Member, Pacific Coast Branch, 1997-99, 1980-82
  • Chair, Program Committee, Pacific Coast Branch, 1984
  • Organization of American Historians
  • Program Committee, 1999-2000
  • Executive Board, 1992-1995
  • Committee on Minority History and Historians, 1987-89
  • Nominating Board, 1982-84
  • Editorial Board Memberships (Pacific Historical Review, Western Historical Quarterly, Mexican Studies Journal)