| Birth Place: | Richmond, Virginia, US |
| Discipline: | Historian |
| Sub Discipline: | African-American history |
Melvin Patrick Ely (pronounced ;[1] born 1952 in Richmond, Virginia) is an history professor and author in Virginia. He has written books about Amos 'n' Andy and Israel Hill.
He grew up in Richmond and graduated from Princeton University, and from the University of Texas at Austin with a master's degree in linguistics, and from Princeton University with a master's degree in history in 1982 and with a doctoral degree in 1985.[2] He taught at Yale University, and at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is currently the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Humanities at the College of William and Mary.[3]