Colin McConarty

About the Author

Colin McConarty is a Ph.D. student in the Boston College History Department. He studies U.S. political history, especially its tendency for recurrence. Before returning to grad school, he spent two years living and teaching in Selma, Alabama.

Author Archive Page

George Washington Williams (Photo: Internet Archive)

George Washington Williams: A Historian Ahead of His Time

February 26, 2016By Colin McConarty

His Enduring Legacy of Historical Achievement

African American voters in Atlanta, 1946. (Photo: Georgia State University Library)

The Process of Disenfranchisement

October 21, 2015By Colin McConarty

The Supreme Court and southern state governments disenfranchised African Americans after the Civil War. It seems we’re on a similar road again.

Group of young white men turn a car on its side during Detroit riots of 1943

Rioting: An American Tradition

Looking at the rioters in Baltimore, or any other place, in isolation misses the point.

The Story of America in Twelve Cemeteries

Our Past is Written in Stone

Mother’s Day or Mothers’ Day

Mothers’ Day did not start as a way to encourage people to be nice to their mothers, but as an impassioned effort by women to end war forever.

The Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862

Exploring an important step toward the abolition of slavery in the United States

Bruce Gillers - October 13, 2021:
The Boy Scout Council in Chinle Arizona was the name of the [...]

Carolyn Marvin - February 11, 2021:
Example: no proof of any silk dress...part of the poem written later. [...]

KateThomas - December 8, 2020:
Thank you. This has given me a greater insight into the historian [...]

Michael C. Lucas - August 5, 2020:
The American Government did not make a deal for Forty Acres and [...]