Gunther Peck

Gunther Peck is Professor of Public Policy and Professor of History at Duke University. His research focuses on the long history of human trafficking and its relationship to the evolution of racial ideology, humanitarian intervention, and immigration policy in North America and Europe. In addition to mentoring both History and Public Policy graduate students, he regularly teaches four undergraduate lecture courses entitled “Immigrant Dreams, American Realities: U.S. Immigration Policy History,”  “Historicizing Whiteness,” “Human Trafficking, Past to Present,” and “North American Environmental History.” His latest book, Race Traffic: Antislavery and the Origins of White Racial Victimhood (UNC Press), examines the historical intersections of human trafficking and race. As a community activist in North Carolina, he has also taken a keen interest in voting rights and understanding how and why citizens do and do not vote.

BIO FEB 2026