University Press of Florida
Unlikely Dissenters: White Southern Women in the Fight for Racial Justice, 1920-1970
Key Metrics
- Anne Stefani
- University Press of Florida
- Hardcover
- 9780813060767
- 9.21 X 6.14 X 0.94 inches
- 1.57 pounds
- History > United States - State & Local - South (AL,AR,FL,GA,KY,LA,MS,NC,SC,TN,VA,WV)
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
Presents a sophisticated and well-supported argument that women such as Lillian Smith, Virginia Durr, and Anne Braden challenged white supremacy at its core while knowing that they would be regarded as traitors to their race, region, and gender in doing so.--Peter B. Levy, author of Civil War on Race Street
Between 1920 and 1970, a small but significant number of white women confronted the segregationist system in the American South, ultimately contributing to its demise. For many of these reformers, the struggle for African American civil rights was akin to their own complex process of personal emancipation from gender norms. As part of the white community, they wrestled with guilt as members of the oppressor group. Yet as women in a patriarchal society, they were also victims. This paradoxical double identity enabled them to develop a special brand of activism that combatted white supremacy while emancipating them from white patriarchy.
Using the 1954 Brown decision as a pivot, Anne Stefani examines and compares two generations of white women who spoke out against Jim Crow while remaining deeply attached to their native South. She demonstrates how their unique grassroots community-oriented activism functioned within--and even used to its advantage--southern standards of respectability.
Author Bio
Anne Stefani is professor of American studies at the University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès.
Research Interests
Southern United States, segregation, civil rights movement, concepts of gender and race, white women, history and memory
Education and Affiliations
- External English Agrégation, 1992
- Doctorate (1999): Doctorate in Anglo-American Studies. Montpellier III University “Lillian Smith, Ralph McGill: divergences within the southern white liberal movement after the Second World War”, under the direction of Michel Bandry.
- Jury: Michel Bandry (University of Montpellier 3), Paul Carmignani (University of Perpignan), Jean-Pierre Martin (University of Provence), François Pitavy (University of Burgundy). Unanimously "Very Honorable" mention.
- Habilitation to Direct Research (2011): “South, genre, race” University of Toulouse - Le Mirail. Guarantor: Nathalie Dessens. Jury: Claire Parfait, University of Paris 13, Michel Bandry, University of Montpellier 3, Hélène Le Dantec-Lowry, University of Paris 3, Jacques Pothier, University of Versailles, Nathalie Dessens, University of Toulouse 2.
- Associate Professor: Toulouse-Le Mirail University, 1999-2012
- Professor: Toulouse Jean Jaurès University, since 2012
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