Alfred Young

Alfred F. Young (1925–2012) was an American historian known for pioneering the social history of the American Revolution and for centering the experiences of ordinary people in his work. Born in New York City, he earned a BA from Queens College, an MA from Columbia University, and a PhD from Northwestern University in 1958. Young taught for over two decades at Northern Illinois University, where he became professor emeritus of history, and later served as senior research fellow at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

Young’s scholarship includes The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution, which examines the Revolutionary era through the life and later recollections of Boston shoemaker George Robert Twelves Hewes. He was also the author of The Democratic Republicans of New York: The Origins, 1763–1797, winner of the Jamestown Prize, and contributed significantly to the study of artisans, popular politics, and historical memory in works such as Masquerade: The Life and Times of Deborah Sampson, Continental Soldier and Liberty Tree: Ordinary People and the American Revolution.