Jean Herskovits

Jean Frances Herskovits (May 20, 1935 – February 5, 2019) was an American historian and academic who was a research professor of history at the State University of New York at Purchase specializing in African (particularly Nigerian) history and politics. Herskovits taught at Brown University, Swarthmore College, City College of the City University of New York and Columbia University. She held a D.Phil. in African history from Oxford University.

Early life and education Jean Frances Herskovits was born in Evanston, Illinois, on May 20, 1935, to anthropologists Melville J. Herskovits and Frances Shapiro Herskovits. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Swarthmore College in 1956, and earned her Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil.) from Oxford University in 1960 under professor Kenneth Kirkwood, writing her dissertation on freed slaves who returned to Africa and the Lagos Colony.

She wrote many articles about Nigeria in publications such as Foreign Policy and The New York Times.

Death Herskovits died on February 5, 2019, in New York. She was married to John Corry, a former reporter with The New York Times, with whom she had three daughters.