Kumar Ramanathan is the GenForward Postdoctoral Scholar. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University in 2023. His research investigates the intersection of racial inequality, public policy, and political institutions, and has been published in Studies in American Political Development, the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, and Political Research Quarterly. His book project, “Building a Civil Rights Agenda: The Democratic Party and the Origins of Racial Liberalism,” investigates how liberal politicians in the northern Democratic Party contested and constructed a civil rights legislative agenda during the 1930s-60s, and aims to explain the origins and limits of racial liberalism as it emerged among party elites. His other research includes work on the development of social welfare policy, the role of party politics in conflict during the Civil War era, the effects of immigration policy on immigrant political participation, and the changing dynamics of local politics in Chicago. He was previously a Doctoral Fellow at the American Bar Foundation and received his B.A. in political science and philosophy from Tufts University.

More on Kumar’s work here.