James Wilford Garner

Born in Pike County, Mississippi, in 1871, he studied at Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College, the University of Chicago, and Columbia University before building his academic career in political science. After a brief appointment at the University of Pennsylvania, he joined the University of Illinois, where he became a longtime professor.

His books and articles ranged widely across government, international law, and constitutional questions. He is also remembered for Reconstruction in Mississippi, an early scholarly study of the post-Civil War South.

He died in Urbana, Illinois, in 1938. His work reflects a period when political science was emerging as a distinct field in American universities, and his writing helped give that field a broader historical and legal perspective.