Hello! I’m Paul, a History Teacher at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. My academic background is in African American intellectual history, but I’ve taught widely across American and world history. This site contains links to various syllabuses of courses I’ve taught, as well as my research and writing.

Educational Background

I received my BA and MA in Afro-American Studies from the University of Wisconsin, and a PhD in American Studies from Rutgers-Newark. I recently completed an MPhil in Sociology from New York University as well.

Research and Writing

My dissertation at Rutgers was entitled Banquo’s Ghost: The Russian Revolution in New Negro Thought, an examined the reception of the Russian Revolution in the intellectual ferment of the Harlem Renaissance. In 2018, I published Class Struggle and the Color Line: The Race Question in American Socialism, 1900-1930, a primary source reader of rare documents on the evolution of thinking about race in the American socialist movement. I have also written extensively about the history of the American Left for Jacobin magazine. In 2021, I have a book chapter forthcoming on the sociologists Oliver Cromwell Cox and W.E.B. Du Bois as theorists of democracy. Currently, I am working on a book manuscript about the history of race riots in the 20th century United States.

Teaching

I have taught at the University of Wisconsin, Rutgers-Newark, Bloomfield College, New York University, and the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. Some of my syllabuses are available under the Teaching tab above.