John Herbert Roper was born in Lyman, South Carolina, graduated from Wade Hampton High School in 1966 and earned A.B. degree in history from the University of South Carolina in 1970. He earned A.M. and Ph.D. in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1973 and 1977, respectively, and also earned M.E. in economics at North Carolina State University in 1981. He has taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Florida International University in Miami, the University of Mississippi, and St. Andrews Presbyterian College, and he joined Emory & Henry College in 1988. He became Richardson Professor of American History in 1992.
