Thesis Title: Writing the Past and Shaping the Future: Historical Revision and Local Color Fiction in Post-Reconstruction Louisiana

What Now: Managing Partner for Advocacy & Strategy, Partners in Democracy

What Next: Building a more vibrant and inclusive democracy in Massachusetts

Follow Me: @JohnGriffin824 (Twitter)

Since graduating from Hist & Lit, I have worked at the intersection of politics and policy in my home state of Massachusetts. I started that work in education policy. Now, I work at an organization devoted to renovating democracy – building a political system where everyone is included and has real power to shape our shared future, where our institutions are resilient in the face of extremism, where our representatives are responsive, accountable to us, and deliver on the big issues in people’s lives.

Hist & Lit did much to shape my path to this work. My thesis explored literary visions of more egalitarian societies, and my junior tutorial focused on the 20^th-century American city and its institutions. This work deepened my interests in education, public policy, and community voice more broadly. Hist & Lit gave me tools and frameworks to think about how Americans conceive of government’s role in shaping societies, and how literary forms can both resist unjust conceptions and envision new ones.


Read More:
• Harvard Magazine author page
• CommonWealth Magazine author page