David-James Gonzales
Associate Professor of History
Brigham Young University
David-James Gonzales is an Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young University. He is the award-winning author of Breaking Down the Walls of Segregation: Mexican American Grassroots Politics and Civil Rights in Orange County, California, which received a 2026 First Book Award Honorable Mention from the Immigration and Ethnic History Society and the 2026 PCB-AHA Pacific Coast Branch Book Award. The book is also a finalist for the 2026 Best History Book Award from the International Latino Book Awards.
Gonzales is a community-engaged public scholar who has worked with the UCI Irvine History Project and the Historic Origins Project investigating Economic Inequality in Orange County (HOPE-OC), sponsored by the Irvine Foundation. He also consults and provides expert testimony for the Orange County Public Defender’s Office on cases pertaining to California’s Racial Justice Act.