Nell Irvin Painter
Born	Nell Elizabeth Irvin (1942-08-02)August 2, 1942 (age 83) Houston, Texas, U.S.
Alma mater	University of California at Berkeley University of California at Los Angeles Harvard University Rhode Island School of Design
Occupation(s)	Historian Author Painter
Employer	Princeton University (emerita)
Known for	African American Literature; American History; American Slavery
Spouse	Glenn Shafer
Parents	Frank Irvin (father) Dona McGruder (mother)
Website	www.nellpainter.com

Nell Irvin Painter (bornNell Elizabeth Irvin; August 2, 1942) is an Americanhistorian notable for her works on United States Southern history of the nineteenth century. She is retired fromPrinceton University as the Edwards Professor of American History Emerita.^[1] She has served as president of theOrganization of American Historians^[2] and as president of theSouthern Historical Association.^[3] She was appointed as chair of theMacDowell board of directors in 2020.^[4]

She was born as Nell Irvin inHouston, Texas, to Dona Lolita (McGruder) Irvin and Frank Edward Irvin.^[5] Her mother held adegree fromHouston College for Negroes (1937) and later, taught in the public schools ofOakland, California. Her father had to drop out of college in 1937 during theGreat Depression. He eventually trained to become a laboratorytechnician. He had a long career at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, where he trained many students in lab techniques.^[6] She had an older brother, Frank, who died young.

Her family moved to Oakland, California, when she was ten weeks old.^[6] They were part of the second wave of theGreat Migration of millions of African Americans from theDeep South to urban centers; from the 1940s to 1970, many migrated to the West Coast for jobs related to the growing defense industry, especially in California. However, some of their relatives had been in California since the 1920s.^[7]

Painter attended theOakland Public Schools, includingOakland Technical High School, from which she was graduated in 1959.^[7][8]

She earned herB.A. inanthropology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1964. During her undergraduate years, she studiedFrench medieval history at theUniversity of Bordeaux, France, 1962–63. As a postgraduate, she studied abroad at theInstitute of African Studies at theUniversity of Ghana, 1965–66. In 1967, she completed anM.A. at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles. In 1974, she earned anM.A. and herPh.D. atHarvard University.^[3]

After her retirement from Princeton, Painter resumed her education with studies in yet another discipline, fine arts. She attended theMason Gross School of the Arts atRutgers University, where she earned aBFA in art in 2009.^[9] She next earned anMFA in painting fromRhode Island School of Design in 2011.^[10]

Her first memoir,Old in Art School, reflects on her experience as she pursued her art degrees.^[11]

After receiving her Ph.D. from Harvard University, Painter worked as an assistant professor and then an associate professor at theUniversity of Pennsylvania. From 1980 to 1988, she was a professor of history at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In 1988, she became a professor of history atPrinceton University. During 1990–91, she was acting director of the Princeton University Program in Afro-American Studies. In 1991, she was named the Edwards Professor of American History there. From 1997 to 2000, she was director of the Program in African-American Studies.^[5] She served as a professor at Princeton until her retirement in 2005.

External videos
Interview with Painter onSojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol, December 8, 1996,C-SPANBooknotes
Presentation by Painter onCreating Black Americans, December 14, 2005,C-SPAN
Presentation by Painter onThe History of White People, March 23, 2010,C-SPAN
Presentation by Painter onThe History of White People, September 25, 2010,C-SPAN

As of 2024, Painter has written the following nine books. In addition, she has written many reviews, essays, and articles. Her 2020 essay that is entitled,My Corona Occupation, is about her experience with creating art and writing during the pandemic.^[12]

• Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas After Reconstruction. Norton. 1976.ISBN 978-0-393-00951-4.
• Hudson, Hosea; Painter, Nell Irvin (1979).The Narrative ofHosea Hudson: His Life as a Negro Communist in the South. Harvard University Press.ISBN 978-0674601109.
• Standing at Armageddon: The United States, 1877–1919. W. W. Norton. 1989.ISBN 978-0-393-30588-3.
• Sojourner Truth: A Life, a Symbol. W.W. Norton. 1997.ISBN 978-0-393-31708-4.
• Southern History Across the Color Line. UNC Press Books. 2002.ISBN 978-0-8078-5360-3.
• Creating Black Americans: African-American History and Its Meanings, 1619 to the Present. Oxford University Press. 2005.ISBN 978-0-19-513755-2.
• The History of White People. W. W. Norton. 2010.ISBN 978-0-393-07949-4. A 'New York Times bestseller.^[13]
• Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over. Counterpoint Press, 2018.ISBN 978-1640090613.
• I Just Keep Talking—A Life in Essays. Doubleday, 2024.ISBN 9780385548908.

In addition to her writing, Painter creates art revolving around the discrimination against African Americans. This work is displayed at annual art events she produces.^[14]

Painter has received honorary degrees fromDartmouth College,Wesleyan University,Yale University, and other institutions.^[15] In 1986, she received aCandace Award from theNational Coalition of 100 Black Women.^[16]

In 1989, Painter married mathematician and statisticianGlenn Shafer.^[17] He is co-creator of theDempster–Shafer theory, a mathematical framework to model epistemic uncertainty,^[18][19] and a former dean of thebusiness school ofRutgers University.

Wikiquote has quotations related toNell Irvin Painter.

• Official website
• Nell Irvin Painter, author of I Just Keep Talking: A Life in Essays - interview by historianJulian Zelizer viaThe Long View, published bySubstack on September 12, 2025
• Guide to the Nell Irvin Painter Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
• "Nell Irvin Painter", Department of History, Princeton University
• Appearances onC-SPAN
  • In Depth interview with Painter, January 6, 2008
• Interview with Painter on "New Books in African American Studies", January 14, 2011
• "There is no such thing as the 'white race' — or any other race, says historian",The Sunday Edition, CBC Radio, September 17, 2017
• Jeffrey Brown,"This new and 'old' artist offers a self-portrait in starting over",PBS NewsHour, July 23, 2018

• 1942 births
• Living people
• African-American historians
• American academic administrators
• American women academics
• American women historians
• Harvard University alumni
• Historians from California
• Historians of the Southern United States
• Oakland Technical High School alumni
• Princeton University faculty
• Rhode Island School of Design alumni
• University of California, Berkeley alumni
• University of California, Los Angeles alumni
• Wesleyan University people
• Whiteness scholars
• Writers from Oakland, California
• 20th-century African-American women writers
• 20th-century African-American writers
• 20th-century American historians
• 20th-century American women writers
• 21st-century African-American artists
• 21st-century African-American academics
• 21st-century African-American women
• 21st-century American academics
• 21st-century American artists
• 21st-century American historians
• 21st-century American women writers

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