Political historian who researches and writes about the impact of electoral politics and policy generation on American social politics. My work is informed by my training in United States and African American history and reflects my interest in urban history, public policy, and racial politics. I seek to generate historical analysis that can provide context for understanding contemporary American politics. Most importantly, I encourage people of all social classes and backgrounds to be engaged with the political debates of the day. I joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an Assistant Professor of History in 2017.