Dee Gillespie, Ph.D.
Area(s) of Expertise: U.S. history , southern history, women's history, African-American history
Overview
Dr. Gillespie specializes in US social history, concentrating on the South in the 20th century.
Courses Taught
- HIST 2111: US History to 1877
- HIST 2112: US History from 1877
- HIST 2000: Historiography
- HIST 3102: The Civil Rights Era, 1877-1970
- HIST 3155: US Women’s History
- HIST 3140: 1960s America
- HIST 4150: US Social & Cultural History - US Immigration History
- HIST 4150: US Social & Cultural History - Southern Women's History
- HIST 7003: Colloquium in US History
Education
- B.A., Psychology, Mount Holyoke College, 1990
- M.S.W., Social Work - Children and Youth, University of Georgia, 1997
- Ph.D., History, SUNY, Binghamton, 2008
Research/Special Interests
Dr. Gillespie’s research focuses on southern communities in the middle of the 20th century. Her work on the Citizenship Education Program (CEP) looks at the civil rights movement from a local perspective, focusing on ways that black women used education as a vehicle for social change and influenced broader national debates about race, gender, and citizenship.
She also examined the impact of post-WWII southern economic development, looking at how the transition to the booming Sunbelt of the late 20th century resulted in a mixed legacy for local people and their environment.
Publications
"'A First-Rate Summer Resort:' Gainesville's Mineral Springs and the New South," Georgia Historical Quarterly,107 (Summer 2023).
The Citizenship Education Program and Black Women's Political Culture (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2021). Awarded the Jula Cherry Spruill Prize for Best Book in Southern Women's History of 2021 by the Southern Association of Women's Historians.
“'Revolutionize Life in the Chattahoochee River Valley: Buford Dam and the Development of Northeastern Georgia,' 1950-1970,” Georgia Historical Quarterly 50 (Winter 2017).
“The Citizenship Education Program in the Mississippi Delta, 1961-1965,” Journal of Southern History 80 (February 2014), 109-142. Awarded the A. Elizabeth Taylor Prize for Best Published Article of 2014 by the Southern Association of Women’s Historians.
“'They Walk, Talk, and Act Like New People:' Citizenship Education in Southeastern Georgia, 1960- 1965,” in Teach Freedom: The African American Tradition of Education for Liberation, Charles M. Payne and Carole Strickland, eds. (New York: Teacher’s College Press, 2008), 42 – 55.
Work Experience
Additional Teaching Experience
Aug 2008 – Jul 2009 Visiting Lecturer, Department of History, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
Jan 2008 – May 2008 Adjunct Professor, Division of Social Sciences, Gainesville State College, Gainesville, GA
Additional Professional Employment
Oct 2001 – May 2009 Family Support Consultant, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore, MD
Aug 1997 – Sep 2001 Family Support Coordinator, The Family Connection, Atlanta, GA