{{short description|American historian}}
'''Paul Kendrick''' (born 1983) is an American author of popular history, political organizer, and Democratic candidate for Illinois State Legislature.
== Early life and education == Kendrick obtained a bachelor's and a master's degree from the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences at George Washington University (GW).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://columbian.gwu.edu/alumni-memories|title=Alumni Memories|website=columbian.gwu.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-11-29}}</ref>
During his time at GW, Kendrick served as President of the college's National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter and also as a Presidential Administrative Fellow.
== Professional career == Kendrick’s professional career has included work in education, public policy, and political organizing. Early in his career, he worked in college access and student success initiatives including for the Harlem Children's Zone's College Success Program. [https://archive.today/20130416131437/http://www.youngpeoplefor.org/news/newsletter/may_enl/]<ref>{{cite news |last=Skouras |first=Lindsey |date=2006-03-01 |title=PAF writes for a cause |url=http://www.dailycolonial.com/go.dc?p=3&s=2329 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214014426/http://www.dailycolonial.com/go.dc?p=3&s=2329 |archivedate=December 14, 2006 |accessdate=2007-10-05 |work=The Daily Colonial |publisher=George Washington University}}</ref><ref name="CampaignBio">{{cite web |title=Meet Paul |url=https://www.paulforillinois.com/meet-paul |access-date=2026-01-19 |website=Paul Kendrick for Illinois}}</ref>
Following work on the 2012 Obama presidential campaign, Kendrick served as a special assistant to Secretary Arne Duncan at the United States Department of Education, and later re-joined the Obama Administration in the Office of Presidential Personnel.
Following his work in the Obama Administration, Kendrick worked on the gubernatorial campaign of JB Pritzker and then became executive director of Rust Belt Rising, an organization focused on training Democratic candidates in the Midwest and voter turnout. During his tenure, the organization reported registering more than 130,000 voters.<ref name="CampaignBio" />
Kendrick later served as Director of Program Strategy at Hope Chicago, an education nonprofit supporting college access and student success for students from Chicago’s South and West Side communities.<ref name="CampaignBio" />
He is an adjunct professor at National Louis University, teaching first-generation college students.<ref name="CampaignBio" />
== Local elected and civic roles == Kendrick has held elected local education governance positions in Chicago. He served as a community representative on the Lincoln Park High School Local School Council and previously served on the Alcott Elementary School Local School Council.<ref name="CampaignBio" />
He has also served on the board of the Park West Neighbors Association, a Chicago neighborhood organization focused on local civic engagement and quality-of-life issues.<ref name="CampaignBio" />
== Illinois House of Representatives campaign == In 2025, Kendrick announced his candidacy for the Illinois House of Representatives from the 12th District as a Democrat, seeking election in 2026. His campaign platform emphasizes public education funding, affordability, labor rights, and environmental policy.<ref name="CampaignBio" /> He has been endorsed by the outgoing 12th District representative, Margaret Croke, who is currently running for Illinois comptroller.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kapos |first=Shia |date=2026-01-08 |title=Illinois Dems say Noem must go |url=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2026/01/08/illinois-dems-say-noem-must-go-00715867 |access-date=2026-01-20 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}</ref>
== Writing and historical work == With his father, Stephen Kendrick, Kendrick has co-authored three works of popular history. The first, ''Sarah's Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and How Their Struggle for Equality Changed America,'' describes the legal case, ''Roberts v. Boston,'' brought on behalf of Sarah Roberts, a black child who was not allowed to attend any of the five "whites-only" schools she passed on her daily walks to school, and the effect this had on the effort to desegregate Boston schools in the 1840s.<ref name="UU">{{cite news | last = Walton | first = Christopher L | title = Ambitious first book at 21 | work = UU World Magazine | pages = | publisher = Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. | date = 2005-05-01 | url = http://www.uuworld.org/life/articles/1543.shtml | accessdate = 2007-10-05 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20071009070430/http://www.uuworld.org/life/articles/1543.shtml <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2007-10-09}}</ref> The case led to the Separate but equal justification for segregation.<ref>{{cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | title = Sarah's Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and How Their Struggle for Equality Changed America | publisher = Beacon Press | date = | url = | doi = }}</ref> The book was named among the best non-fiction of 2005 by the Christian Science Monitor.<ref>{{cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | title = Best nonfiction 2005 | work = Christian Science Monitor | publisher = The Christian Science Monitor | date = 2005-11-25 | url = https://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1129/p12s02-bogn.html | doi = | accessdate = 2007-10-05 }}</ref>
The duo's next book, ''Douglass and Lincoln: How a Revolutionary Black Leader and a Reluctant Liberator Struggled to End Slavery and Save the Union'', concentrated on the meetings of President Lincoln and Frederick Douglass between 1863 and 1865, and how their conversations impacted the outcome of the Civil War.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/paul-kendrick/douglass-and-lincoln/ |title=DOUGLASS AND LINCOLN {{!}} Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}</ref>
Their third book, ''Nine Days: The Race to Save Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life and Win the 1960 Election'', is about Martin Luther King, Jr.'s imprisonment in the days leading up to the 1960 presidential election.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kendrick |first1=Stephen |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53317519-nine-days |title=Nine days: the race to save Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and win the 1960 election |last2=Kendrick |first2=Paul |date=2021 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-1-250-15570-2 |edition=First |location=New York}}</ref>
== Personal and family life == Kendrick resides in Chicago with his wife, Kori Schulman, and their two daughters.<ref name="CampaignBio" />
==Publications== *''Sarah's Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and How Their Struggle for Equality Changed America'' by Paul Kendrick & Stephen Kendrick. Beacon Press: Boston (2004). {{ISBN|978-0-8070-5018-7}} *''Douglass and Lincoln: How a Revolutionary Black Leader and a Reluctant Liberator Struggled to End Slavery and Save the Union'' by Paul Kendrick & Stephen Kendrick. Walker & Company: New York (2007). {{ISBN|978-0-8027-1523-4}} *''Nine Days: The Race to Save Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life and Win the 1960 Election'' by Paul Kendrick & Stephen Kendrick. Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York (2021). {{ISBN|9781250155702}}
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kendrick, Paul}} Category:21st-century American historians Category:21st-century American male writers Category:Historians of the United States Category:Activists for African-American civil rights Category:Living people Category:1983 births Category:Columbian College of Arts and Sciences alumni Category:American male non-fiction writers