Professor Marchiel is a historian of U.S. political and urban history.
Research Interests
- The relationship between financial institutions and ordinary people in the United States
- The rise of an affordable housing policy regime in the 20th century
- Housing discrimination and financial exploitation in the era after civil rights victories
Biography
Rebecca Marchiel is an historian of urban history, political history, and the history of American capitalism. In 2020, she published her first book, “After Redlining: The Urban Reinvestment Movement in the Era of Financial Deregulation.” The book examines how the U.S. financial system shaped and was shaped by the political organizing of ordinary people during the last third of the twentieth century. It charts the story of a multiracial coalition of low- and moderate-income urbanites who sought community control over investment capital. Drawing on the unprocessed archive of the movement’s lead organization, National People’s Action, the project explores how activists fought to preserve the benefits of regulated banking at a time when the New Deal financial regime began to crumble. She is currently writing a book that explores the emergence of “affordable housing” as a policy priority in the late 20th century.
Marchiel taught U.S. history at Franklin and Marshall College for one year before joining the UM faculty in 2015. She was awarded a fellowship from Harvard University’s Charles Warren Center, 2015-2106.
Publications
Courses Taught
- HST 131 U.S. History, 1877-Present
- HST 432 U.S. Economic History
- HST 490 The American Consumer
- HST 490 The Vietnam War
- HST 606 U.S. Urban History
- HST 506 Historiography: U.S. 1877-present
Education
M.A. History, Northwestern University (2008)
Ph.D. History, Northwestern University (2014)