• 20th Century American Social History
• Civil Rights Movement
• Urban History
• Hip Hop Music and Black Culture in Post-Industrial America

David Canton, Assistant Professor of History, states: "I am interested in African American urban history, civil rights, and northern race relations. Most Americans view racism, segregation, and the civil rights struggle as southern phenomena, but racism, segregation, and the civil rights struggle are an American phenomena."

Canton believes that African-American urban history illustrates the impact of racism, classism, and sexism in the black community. It also provides insight to the origins of 20th century black urban poverty, civil rights struggle, black class formation, and black community development.

David Canton's dissertation, "The Struggle for Status and Justice: The Life of Judge Raymond Pace Alexander," was the first scholary study of Raymond Pace Alexander, a prominent African American lawyer and judge in Philadelphia. Most research on black lawyers and the civil rights struggle focus on the impact of nationally known attorneys, such as Thurgood Marshall, Charles Hamilton Houston, William Hastie, and their role in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People desegregation campaign from the 1920s to the 1950s. The NAACP's national civil rights struggle had a greater impact on black southerners. The NAACP's national civil rights struggle was a southern campaign against Jim Crow.

His research explored the role that Raymond Pace Alexander played in the civil rights struggle in Philadelphia. According to Canton, African Americans experienced de facto segregation in the North; however, segregation in northern cities varied. For example, Philadelphia was a northern city with southern race relations; therefore, during the twenties, some white-owned businesses placed Jim Crow signs on the window. White-owned theaters segregated black customers and white-owned restaurants refused to serve African Americans. Canton contends that his research breaks new ground in civil rights historiography. His research complements the national study of the southern civil rights movement with a local northern study.

Canton’s article "Ethnic, Race, and Coalition Politics in Post-Industrial Urban America" is in the Journal of Urban History and his "The Origins of A New Negro Lawyer, 1898-1923" is in The Western Journal of Black Studies. He has written book reviews for the Journal of Southern History and the Journal of Mississippi History. His article, "The Political, Economic, Social, and Cultural Tensions in Gangsta Rap", appeared in Reviews in American History Volume 34 Number 2, June 2006. His most recent article appears in Pennsylvania History, Volume 75, Spring 2008.

He teaches a Web-based course, the History of Hip Hop Music and Culture.

Professor Canton has received the following awards: Tempel Summer Institute, Connecticut College (Summer 2004), National Endowment of the Humanities Summer Institute, African American Struggle For Civil Rights 1877-1965 (Summer 2003), Temple University Dissertation Completion Grant, 2000-2001.

View the history department site.