Joe William Trotter Jr. (born 18 June 1945) is a Giant Eagle Professor of History and Social Justice and past History Department Chair at Carnegie Mellon University. He is an expert in African-American history.
Trotter received his BA degree from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota. He presides over numerous committees, including the Executive Councils of the Organization of American Historians and the Society for Historical Archaeology, the Program Committee of the Oral History Association, the Jameson Fellowship and Program Committees of the American Historical Association, as well as Nominating and Program Committees of OAH and Francis B. Simkins Prize and Program Committee of SHA. Trotter also was a member and vice president of the Board of Trustees of the H. John Heinz III Regional History Center, a Smithsonian Affiliate, and past President of the Labor and Working-Class History Association.
Trotter also affiliated with the Ohio School Boards Association and is a frequent contributor to Jacobin Magazine.
In 2019, Trotter was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.