Megan Ming Francis

Megan Ming Francis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Washington. Megan specializes in the study of American politics, race, and the development of constitutional law. She is particularly interested in the construction of rights and citizenship, black political activism, and the post-civil war South. Born and raised in Seattle, WA, she was educated at Garfield High School, Rice University in Houston, and Princeton University where she received her M.A. and her Ph.D. in Politics.

She is the author of the award winning book, Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State. This book tells the story of how the early campaign against state sanctioned racial violence of the NAACP shaped the modern civil rights movement. Megan shows that the battle against lynching and mob violence in the first quarter of the 20th century were pivotal to the development of civil rights and the growth of federal court power. She is inspired by people who fight for justice–even when the end appears nowhere in sight.