Kevin's Culture Corner:
Music, Politics and American Culture
Biography
Kevin Comtois is currently on hiatus from teaching.
From September 2016 through June 2021 Kevin taught Advanced Placement United States History, Advanced Placement American Government, American Civics and advised the Model United Nations Club at the Academy of Notre Dame in Tyngsboro, MA. Previously he taught: World History and Civilization, American Music History, Civil Rights and Liberties, The American Presidency, International Relations and Constitutional Law.
From 1999 through 2016 Kevin taught at Northern Essex Community College (NECC), Merrimack College, Quincy College, The Tsongas Industrial History Center,and Central Catholic High School. While teaching High School Kevin created a course on the history of American music and served as Social Studies Department Chair at CCHS. At NECC Kevin developed and taught an Honors Colloquium titled: The Social and Political History of American Music.
Kevin earned his B.A. in Political Science from Westfield State College and his M.A in American Civilization from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Kevin was a recipient of two grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The first grant was awarded in 2005 to study Jazz with Dr. Gerald Early at Washington University, St Louis. The second grant was awarded in 2008 to study the Industrial Revolution in Lowell.
Kevin has been active in local politics since the early 1990s, served as Chairman of the Tewksbury Board of Library Trustees in the 2000s, served on the Executive Board as the Recording Secretary of the Tewksbury Historical Society in 2015, and continues as an amateur musician and songwriter.
In 2021 Kevin had the honor of providing the Commencement Address at Notre Dame Academy in Tyngsboro Massachusetts. A video of that speech is available for viewing on this site.
In 2015 Kevin published his first book titled:
Troubadours & Troublemakers: The Evolution of American Protest Music
Kevin is working on a second volume of the Troubadour series about musicians in World War II and their effect on race relations in America.
He recently relocated to Seneca South Carolina with his wife Maxine, mother Gloria and father-in-law Earl.