David Howard-Pitney has taught American history and American studies at San Jose State University and the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He is now professor and history department chair of De Anza College. He worked at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University in 1986 and from 2000 to 2002 was a commissioned scholar for the Public Influences of African American Churches Project of the Leadership Center at Morehouse College. A specialist on American civil religion and African American leaders' thought and rhetoric, Howard-Pitney's publications include The African-American Jeremiad: Appeals for Justice in America.