Strange Bedfellows: Nativism, Know-Nothings, African-Americans and School Desegregation in Antebellum Massachusetts

My most recent public history/academic work focuses upon the nativist American Party—also called the Know-Nothings—in antebellum Massachusetts, and their unlikely role in effecting public school integration. Know-Nothings briefly wielded significant political power nationally as the traditional two party system fragmented, and for a time in Massachusetts controlled both the legislature and the governor’s office. Paradoxically, Know-Nothing political dominance translated into the passage of a great body of progressive legislation, including a law in 1855 that outlawed segregation in Massachusetts schools—the first state in the nation to do so.

As such, I did a presentation at History Camp Pioneer Valley 2017 on July 29, 2017. Also, my journal article, “Strange Bedfellows: Nativism, Know-Nothings, African-Americans and School Desegregation in Antebellum Massachusetts,” was published in the Saber and Scroll  Journal [Volume 6, Issue 2 Spring-Summer 2017 (September 2017)].  Finally, I created a website to showcase this material. All of this can be accessed by clicking on the thumbnail below:

Know-Nothings

Strange Bedfellows: Nativism, Know-Nothings, African-Americans and School Desegregation in Antebellum Massachusetts

I am currently writing a book about William Cooper Nell, the African-American abolitionist who led the decade-long movement that finally resulted in Boston school integration.