History Alumni Spotlight: Robert Justice

History Alumnus Robert Justice ‘23 (BA) reflects on his academic journey and the profound impact the Department of History had on his scholarly development. "In my time at USD one of the biggest takeaways from the program I gained was the community. Throughout my undergraduate program, I gained invaluable lessons and support from faculty which truly is immeasurable when looking back to how this has shaped my current trajectory," he said.

Since graduating, Justice has continued to build on his academic foundation. He started his master's program at New York University in the fall of 2023 and received his MA in history in Fall 2024. Justice concentrated on the long-term settler dispossession of Indigenous peoples on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. His recent thesis, "Making Montaukett: An Exploration of Law, Land, Race, and Kinship on Eastern Long Island," traced ways in which settlers created and imposed Native identity upon the Montauketts and ways that Montauketts contested, reshaped and rejected certain identity traits.

Justice is now finishing up this project as it is transformed into an academic article. He shared, "Having built upon my research that started at USD, this project completed at NYU has truly been a full circle moment in combining the lessons learned from USD to NYU."

With his experiences from USD and NYU, Justice hopes to utilize his knowledge through a position in the non-profit or teaching sector to create long-term differences for Indigenous peoples of the Americas.