The United States has a unique political landscape and a complex political history. As scholars Paula McClain and Steven Tauber state in their textbook American Government in Black and White (Oxford), the foundations of the United States are built upon “traditions of exclusion,” not those of inclusion. The founding of the United States was embedded within a culture where only white men of wealth could participate in civic society, where women were treated as subordinate, and where people of color were treated as property. These traditions of exclusion were codified into early legal documents and cultural practices, and the United States has spent its entire history overcoming these exclusionary beginnings. We have come a long way as a country to becoming more inclusive, and there is still more to be done. It is important to teach students at all levels about the past and ongoing struggles for systemic inclusion in American politics, because these events and their legacies are fundamental to understanding the structures and processes at work in American government—both when they work well and when they need to be changed.
Before beginning my doctoral program, I worked professionally for almost 15 years with LGBTQ organizations, disability rights organizations, civil liberties groups, and labor organizations, among others. Through this work and my own experiences, I have learned how to identify the ways in which structural and social inequalities present themselves in everyday life. I have also learned and continue to learn how to create spaces in which under-represented students are able to have their voices heard and valued. In the academy, I am consistently active with organizations, committees, and working groups that work to build academic environments which reflect and respect the true range of demographic, social, economic, and geographic diversity in the world.