Matthew L. Harris is Professor of History and Director of Legal Studies at Colorado State University-Pueblo. Among his many books include Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality (Oxford University Press, 2024), Watchman on the Tower: Ezra Taft Benson and the Making of the Mormon Right (University of Utah Press, 2020), The LDS Gospel Topics Series: A Scholarly Engagement (Signature Books, 2020), Thunder from the Right: Ezra Taft Benson in Mormonism and Politics (University of Illinois Press, 2019), and The Mormon Church and Blacks: A Documentary History (University of Illinois Press, 2015). He received a B.A. and M.A. in history from Brigham Young University and an M.Phil. and Ph.D., also in history, from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Harris's teaching and scholarship explores the intersectionality of religion and law, race and religion, civil rights, and right-wing extremism, particularly among religious groups. An award-winning professor, Harris teaches classes on Church and State, Civil Rights, the Constitution, African American History, US Legal History, and American Religions. His classes have been broadcast on CSPAN and his research has been covered by a variety of media outlets, including the Religious News Service, CSPAN, National Public Radio, Salt Lake Tribune, Longreads, and others. In addition, he has appeared on numerous podcasts discussing his research on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and race, right-wing extremism, the electoral college, the Supreme Court, and civil rights. He is currently at work on two books: Hugh B. Brown: Mormonism's Progressive Apostle and J. Reuben Clark and the Making of Modern Mormonism. Harris is the president-elect of the John Whitmer Historical Association—an organization centered on Restoration scholarship.