About
Patrick Rael is a Professor of History at Bowdoin College, specializing in African-American history, the Civil War era, and the history of slavery and emancipation. He holds a PhD in American History from the University of California, Berkeley (1995), an MA from the same institution, and a BA from the University of Maryland.
His research examines the longue durée of slavery's demise in the U.S., transnational black activism, and the intersection of history with digital humanities. He is the author of Eighty-Eight Years: The Long Death of Slavery in the United States, 1777-1865 (finalist for the Harriet Tubman Prize) and Black Identity and Black Protest in the Antebellum North (honorable mention for the Frederick Douglass Prize). He co-edits the Race in the Atlantic World, 1700-1900 series for the University of Georgia Press.
- His technological innovations include an online simulation of the fugitive slave experience and historical maps using GIS.
- He has contributed extensively to curriculum development for African-American history in primary and secondary schools and leads workshops on teaching American history.
- Rael's recent work analyzes board games as cultural ephemera that shape historical understanding, particularly regarding slavery and exploitation.
Scientific awards include fellowships from the Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, and Gilder Lehrman Center, among others. His teaching resources, including online writing guides, have supported students for over 15 years.
