Andrew S. Baer

Associate Professor This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Heritage Hall 360G
(205) 934-8693

Office Hours: Zoom by appointment

Education:

• B.A., University of Florida, History
• M.A., University of Chicago, Social Sciences
• Ph.D., Northwestern University, History

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Andy Baer studies U.S. history and African American history. His research lies on the intersection of race, policing, and social movements. Andy's first book, Beyond the Usual Beating: The Jon Burge Police Torture Scandal and Social Movements for Police Accountability in Chicago (University of Chicago Press, 2020), explores a group of white detectives who coerced confessions from Black criminal suspects in 1970s and 1980s Chicago and the people who fought to bring justice for survivors.

Andy's second book, titled, Who's Killing Us?: How Black Feminists and Their Allies Fought to Make Thirteen Murders Matter in 1979 Boston (under contract with the University of Chicago Press, forthcoming 2027) examines the murder of thirteen women and girls—twelve Black, one white—in 1979 Boston and the response of Black feminists, including the renowned Combahee River Collective. Arguing that Black women would never be free unless they were safe from violent assault perpetrated by men of all backgrounds, these activists insisted that the lives of ALL Black women and girls mattered, regardless of the circumstances of their lives and deaths.