Lois E. Horton (September 27, 1942 – September 22, 2021)^[1] was an American historian, specializing in African American history. She co-authored numerous foundational studies of nineteenth-century African American history and abolitionism.

She received her Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 1977.^[2] A highly respected, interdisciplinary scholar, she was especially well known for groundbreaking work on antebellum Black history and abolitionism. Much of her work was co-authored with the eminent historian James Oliver Horton, who also was her husband. Together, the Hortons published some of the foundational work on nineteenth-century African American history, greatly contributing to historians' understanding of U.S. history more broadly.^[3]

She was professor emeritus of history at George Mason University.^[4] Before her retirement, she held the Distinguished John Adams Chair in American History at George Mason, and visited the University of Amsterdam as a Fulbright scholar.^[5]

• Harriet Tubman and the Fight for Freedom: A Brief History with Documents Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic
• Slavery and the Making of America with James Oliver Horton.^[6] Companion to 2005 PBS series.^[7]
• ed. Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory with James Oliver Horton^[8][9]
• Slavery & the Law
• Hard Road to Freedom: The Story of African America with James Oliver Horton^[10]
• In Hope of Liberty: Culture, Community and Protest Among Northern Free Blacks, 1700-1860 with James Oliver Horton. 1996.
• History of the African American People: The History, Traditions and Culture of African Americans