About John McWhorter
John Hamilton McWhorter V (; born October 6, 1965) is an American linguist. He is an associate professor of linguistics at Columbia University, where he also teaches American studies and music history. He has authored a number of books on race relations and African-American culture, and is a political commentator especially in his New York Times newsletter. == Early life and education == McWhorter was born in Philadelphia, and raised in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia and in Lawnside, New Jersey. His father, John Hamilton McWhorter IV (1927–1996), was a college administrator, and his mother, Schelysture Gordon McWhorter (1937–2011), taught social work at Temple University. McWhorter attended Friends Select School in Philadelphia, and after tenth grade he was accepted to Simon's Rock College, where he earned an AA degree. McWhorter has described his upbringing as part of the Black middle class. He has also attributed some of his views to the Quaker school he attended as a child. McWhorter later attended Rutgers University and received a B.A. degree in French in 1985. He obtained an M.A. degree in American Studies from New York University.
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