Area(s) of Expertise: U.S. history , southern history, women's history, African-American history
Dr. Gillespie specializes in US social history, concentrating on the South in the 20th century.
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.
The Citizenship Education Program and Black Women's Political Culture (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2021)
“'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.
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
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