Eric Lott (born 1959) is an American cultural historian and Distinguished Professor of English at The Graduate Center, CUNY in New York City.

His book about the origins, evolution, and cultural significance of blackface minstrelsy, Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (1993), received the 1994 Avery O. Craven Award from the Organization of American Historians and the first annual Modern Language Association's "Best First Book" prize, and the 1994 Outstanding Book on the Subject of Human Rights by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights.

[3] Love and Theft extensively documents the racism and cultural appropriation inherent in blackface performance; Lott also argues that it demonstrates a current of homosexual desire for Black men's bodies;[4] he also argues that "mixed in with vicious parodies and lopsided appropriation, minstrelsy involved a real love of African American culture.

[6] His writing has also appeared in numerous publications, such as Village Voice, The Nation, Transition, and American Quarterly.

[7] Lott's latest book, Black Mirror, extends his views on the contradictions of American racism to more contemporary themes, including the presidency of Barack Obama, Elvis impersonation, and Dylan's Love and Theft.