[1] He is the recipient of the Merle Curti Award and the Philip Taft Labor History Book Award for his 2009 book Scraping By: Wage Labor, Slavery, and Survival in Early Baltimore.

[1] His scholarship has focused on the history of slavery and capitalism in the United States.

[4][5][6][7] In 2010, Rockman was the co-winner of the Merle Curti Award from the Organization of American Historians.

[8] He also received the 2010 Philip Taft Labor History Book Award from the Cornell University ILR School.

[9] Rockman is married to fellow Brown historian Tara Nummedal.