Hettie V. Williams, Ph.D., associate professor of African American History, recently published “The Georgia of the North: Black Women and the Civil Rights Movement in New Jersey.”
The historical narrative focuses on Black women and civil rights movement in New Jersey from the Great Migration to 1954. Williams specifically centers the books around the critical role played by Black women in forging interracial, cross-class, and cross-gender alliances at the local and national level and their role in securing the passage of progressive civil right legislation in the Garden State.
“Dr. Williams is an invaluable member of the Department of History and Anthropology. Her tremendous scholarship reaches into underexplored corners of American history. ‘The Georgia of the North,’ and previous works like the co-edited volume ‘A Seat at the Table,’ give voice to the narratives of Black women academics and leaders. For Monmouth University students Dr. Williams’ scholarly prowess transcends the written word, allowing her to reveal to our students to a richer and more dynamic American history narrative,” said Maryanne Rhett, Ph.D., chair of the Department of History and Anthropology.
Williams is a historian of 20th century American history, recipient of the Eugene Simko Faculty Leadership Award, the PGIS Award in Social Justice, co-founder of the Monmouth University Interdisciplinary Conference on Race, founder of the Works in Progress Seminar series, and president of the African American Intellectual History Society.