Dr. Lindsay Amaral is a public historian and the co-founder and managing director of Third Row Consulting, LLC. Her firm combines strategies in fields of history, education, and social impact to produce narrative-driven studies for a variety of audiences. She has partnered with organizations like the Food Bank of South Jersey and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

She currently sits on the Associate Board of Directors for Hunger Free America in New York.

Lindsay’s research unpacks the political, economic, and social factors that have reinforced institutional inequalities in federal programs focused primarily on food and health insecurity. She works to bridge the historical contexts and consequences of social justice issues and analyze how they shape contemporary policies.

She has a deep understanding of federal food policy and has published in various outlets. In an 2020 op-ed with the Washington Post – Made by History series, Lindsay explored the history behind work requirements and the SNAP program. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) retweeted the piece from the Washington Post stating, “The thousands of Minnesotans who are going to lose their access to food aren’t going to ‘learn a lesson’ – they will go hungry in one of the richest countries in the world. I’m in Congress to fight back. I won’t let cruelty win.”

Lindsay’s dissertation entitled “Too Poor to Eat: A Socio-Political History of Food Stamps in the United States from 1964-1996,” analyzed the interplay of national food stamp policies and grassroots organizing for more and better food access.

Her areas of expertise include food equity, root causes of poverty, and human-centered design. She has experiences in academia and the public sector priming her to work cross-functionally and collaboratively.

Before graduate school she worked in Research and Development for Mississippi Action for Progress, Inc. Head Start. Lindsay holds a BA in history from Millsaps College (Jackson, MS), a MA in history from Mississippi State University, and a PhD in history from the University of Houston. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship as an American Council of Learned Societies fellow at Hunger Free America.

 Expertise and Specializations:

Historical & Contemporary Research

Public Speaking

Teaching & Mentoring

Partnership & Community Outreach