Marcus Wilson Jernegan (1872–1949) was an American historian[1] and a professor at the University of Chicago.
[2] In 2017, a scholar from Harvard (Donald Yacovone) referred to him as one of the leading historians of his time who influenced textbooks of his era and noted the tainted and bigoted sources he relied on.
He graduated as valedictorian of Edgartown High School, then received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1906.
[4][5] Jernegan was part of a pioneering effort to map colonial churches.
[7] He also wrote about the veracity of Benjamin Franklin's supposed kite experiments to demonstrate electricity.