Matthew Lassiter

Matthew Lassiter is the Louis Evans Professor of History and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan. Affiliated with Urban Planning and American Culture, he specializes in twentieth-century U.S. political history, urban/suburban studies, racial inequality, and policing/carcereral state history. His recent works include The Suburban Crisis (2023) and Detroit Under Fire (2021). He co-directs the Carceral State Project and leads the Policing and Social Justice HistoryLab, engaging student researchers in public history initiatives. Lassiter holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia (1999) and edits the “Politics and Culture in Modern America” series for University of Pennsylvania Press.

Education: Ph.D., University of Virginia, 1999

Research Focus: Explores suburban political dynamics, drug policy, racial justice, and carceral systems through interdisciplinary projects. Recent publications analyze postwar urban development, police violence, and the War on Drugs’s sociopolitical impacts.

Awards & Grants: Not explicitly listed, but his endowed chairs and project leadership indicate significant recognition. Collaborative initiatives like the HistoryLab highlight his commitment to public engagement and student mentorship.

Labs/Teams: Leads the Policing and Social Justice HistoryLab, fostering collaborations between academic research and public-facing projects on social justice issues.