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Leading Equity


Dec 7, 2020

About Todd Mealy, Ph.D.

Todd is the author of seven books, including Race-Conscious Pedagogy: Disrupting Racism at Majority-White Schools (2020); Displaced: A Holocaust Memoir and the Road to a New Beginning with Linda Schwab (2019); Glenn Killinger, All American: Penn State's World War I Era Sports Hero (2018)This Is the Rat Speaking: Black Power and the Promise of Racial Consciousness at Franklin and Marshall College in the Age of the Takeove(2017); Legendary Locals of Harrisburg (2014), Aliened American: A Biography of William Howard Day, 1825-1900, Vols. I and II (2010); and Biography of an Antislavery City: Antislavery Activists, Abolitionists, and Underground Railroad Operatives in Harrisburg, Pa (2007). Todd authored a chapter in From the Pews: The Story of the Bethel AME Church in Harrisburg (2015). He has also published several articles in Pennsylvania Heritage and American Heritage.

Todd's scholarship on the Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania along with Black abolitionist and educator William Howard Day has been cited in works by Steve Luxenberg (Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America's Journey from Slavery to Segregation), Richard Blackett (Making Freedom: The Underground Railroad and the Politics of Slavery), and the late Hari Jones ("Deciphering the African American Mystery in American History"). His research on Glenn Killinger is also featured in Anne R. Keene's acclaimed book The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II (2018).

Mealy holds a Ph.D. from Penn State University. He also attained a Master's degree from the same institution, where he was the 2014 recipient of the John S. Patterson Award for academic and creative achievement. In 2018, he received the university's Sue Samuelson Award for his doctoral dissertation. 

He is a contributing writer for Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine. His publications in the magazine include pieces about the 19th-century trials that led to the end of legal segregation in Pennsylvania's public schools; the abolitionist and cofounder of the Liberty Party Francis Julius LeMoyne; an All-American football player from Penn State who reached the pinnacle of his career following World War I named Glenn Killinger; the 100-year history of the Penn State Nittany Lions - Pittsburgh Panthers football rivalry; and the greatest African American women's tennis and basketball player before World War II, Ora Mae Washington. 

Todd's latest publication in Pennsylvania Heritage is "Muhammad Ali at Fighter's Heaven," a 4,000-word article taking a look at the eight years Muhammad Ali spent training at a long-forgotten training camp in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. He has one forthcoming article due out in Spring 2021 titled "Without Fear and without Reproach: Octavius V. Catto and the Early Civil Rights Movement in Pennsylvania," which explores the life of Octavius Catto, an African American civil rights activist and educator killed in Philadelphia trying to protect Black voters on October 10, 1871, just a year after the ratification of the 15th Amendment.

The newest book written by Todd is Race-Conscious Pedagogy: Disrupting Racism at Majority-White High Schools (McFarland & Co.). It is an appeal for race-conscious education at predominantly white high schools. The book's Foreword is written by Dr. Terrence Roberts, known for his role as one of the Little Rock Nine students that desegregated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 and the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Writing the Afterword is philosopher George Yancy, author of several books on race, including Across Black Spaces; Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly About Race in America; and On Race: 34 Conversations in a Time of Crisis.

In 2020, Todd launched the Equity Institute for Race-Conscious Pedagogy, LLC to advance scholarship in race-centered learning while advocating for social justice through pedagogy and curriculum. Founded to help educators at all levels write curriculum with a critical race lens, the institute also carries a research agenda to enhance race-conscious pedagogies through academic publications. 

Todd also is an adjunct professor in the History Department at Dickinson College and works as Director of Equity and Instruction at The Bond Educational Group. The Bond offers coaching services to under-resourced K-12 and postsecondary students and provides professional development coaching to educators, athletic coaches, and professionals in the corporate sector, which includes specifically tailored programming. As Director of Equity and Instruction, Todd is The Bond's curriculum writer.  

Mealy was born in Bradford in 1979, grew up in Harrisburg, and currently lives in Lancaster with his wife, Melissa, Ed.D., son, Carter, and daughter, Adeline. He has taught in Lancaster County public schools since 2001. He spends summers traveling to countries in Europe, Asia, and South America. He also coached high school football for twenty-two years. These experiences helped shape his focus on issues related to social justice, race theory, political history, and sports culture. 

Show Highlights

  • Race Conscious Pedagogy
  • The importance of Multicultural Education
  • The colorblind classroom
  • When you haven’t personally experienced racism
  • Being silent
  • What happens when we shut down conversations about race in the classroom
  • Authentic conversations

Connect with Todd

Equity Institute for Race Conscious Pedagogy - https://www.raceconsciouspedagogy.org/

Author's Website - https://www.toddmealy.com/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/ToddMealy

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/todd.mealy.7

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-m-mealy-ph-d-37492b191/

Connect with me on Instagram: @sheldoneakins