Elizabeth Gillespie McRae

Creighton Sossoman Associate Professor of History, Western Carolina University

Author, Mothers of Massive Resistance: White Women and the Politics of White Supremacy

Elizabeth Gillespie McRae’s scholarly interests center on race, politics, and education in the postwar United States. She is the Creighton Sossoman Professor of History at Western Carolina University where she also co-directs the Appalachian Oral History Project. Her book, Mothers of Massive Resistance: White Women and the Politics of White Supremacy published in 2018 was the recipient of the Frederick Jackson Turner Award given by the Organization of American Historians, the Frank and Harriet Owsley Award given by the Southern Historical Association, and the Society for Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award. This book examines white women’s work in maintaining white supremacy in public education, social welfare policy, politics, and culture in the South and across the nation. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, World Histories, Public Schools First, and various radio shows and podcasts. Her current project examines the role of “school choice” in American public education.