Hamilton has been researching the interplay of music and racial thought during the 1960s, exploring how rock ‘n’ roll music evolved from its interracial roots to being viewed as a “white” genre by the end of that decade. He is completing a book titled, “Rubber Souls: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination,” which is scheduled to be published by Harvard University Press. Hamilton earned his Ph.D. in American Studies at Harvard University and recently completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Race and Popular Culture.