Heather Ann Thompson

Dr. Heather Ann Thompson is the Frank W. Thompson Collegiate Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Michigan, holding a joint appointment in the Department of History. She directs the Carceral State Project and co-founded History Studio, a media consulting firm specializing in historical authenticity for entertainment.

Her research centers on the carceral state, prisons, policing, social movement activism, and Detroit's history, with particular focus on systemic racism and state violence. Thompson pioneered interdisciplinary approaches connecting historical scholarship to contemporary criminal justice reform, examining how mass incarceration distorts democracy and perpetuates racial inequality.

Thompson's publications include the Pulitzer and Bancroft Prize-winning Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy (2016) and Whose Detroit: Politics, Labor, and Race in a Modern American City (2001/2017). Her scholarly work reveals how prison uprisings, policing practices, and urban rebellions shape American democracy, appearing in top journals like the Journal of American History and Labor: Studies in the Working Class History of the Americas.

• Pulitzer Prize in History (2017)
• Bancroft Prize in American History (2017)
• Ridenhour Book Prize (2017)
• National Book Award Finalist (2016)
• Guggenheim Fellowship
• Silver Gavel Award Honorable Mention (2017)

Thompson advises major media projects including the Oscar-nominated film ATTICA and PBS's Crime and Punishment in America series. She served on the National Academy of Sciences panel studying mass incarceration and consults for policy organizations including the Prison Policy Initiative, Art for Justice Fund, and Open Society Foundation. Her Carceral State Project fosters university-wide research on incarceration while History Studio ensures historical accuracy in entertainment media.