Gautham Rao
Historian of American law and politics, and Associate Professor of History at American University in Washington
About Dr. Gautham Rao
I’m a historian of American law and politics, and I’m an Associate Professor of History at American University in Washington, D.C. My most recent book is White Power: Policing American Slavery (forthcoming, 2026). This book is a history of the laws that enslavers used to police enslaved people from 1619 until the Civil War and their sad legacies in American life.
Photo by Charlotte Kesl.
Form K-115, Ku Klux Klan Collection, Social Welfare History Archives, Box 29, Archives and Special Collections, University of Minnesota Libraries.
FORTHCOMING 2026
White Power: Policing American Slavery
Coming soon, the story of how enslavers built their own legal and policing system to try to control and punish enslaved people.
Research
I’ve been researching and writing about the history of American law and politics for over two decades. I’m fascinated with Americans relationship with government—how we’ve gone from the Founding Fathers deciding to create a new system of government hundreds of years ago, to politicians today telling us government is the problem.
Speaking
I am an expert on the history of American law and politics and specialize in interpreting complicated historical events for the broader public. I am an experienced public speaker—in person and online—and have appeared before tour groups, governmental organizations, teacher workshops, and educational groups ranging from high school through doctoral students.