Julie Gallagher

Julie Gallagher is a Professor of History and American Studies with affiliate status in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State Brandywine. She received her PhD in History from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, a MA in Education from the University of Michigan, a BA in Economics from Fordham University, and a Certificate in International Relations at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). 

Her book, Reshaping Women’s History:  Voices on Nontraditional Women Historians was published by University of Illinois Press in 2018. The book presents autobiographical essays by eighteen accomplished scholar-activists who persevered through poverty or abuse, medical malpractice or family disownment, and civil war.  As they illuminate their own unique circumstances, the authors also address issues all too familiar to women in the academy: financial instability, the need for mentors, explaining gaps in resumes, and coping with gendered family demands, biases, and expectations. See details here: https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/48dte6fd9780252042003.html

Her book, Black Women and Politics in New York City, was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2012 (reprinted in paperback in 2014).  Party politics, American liberalism, the civil rights movement, and the women’s rights movement all look different when considered from the perspective of the women documented in this book. See details here: https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/62kxc8yn9780252036965.html

Professor Gallagher’s current book project, “Frontline Battles for Justice in an Age of Universal Human Rights:  A Comparative Gender History,” offers new and important insights into the gendered history of civil society organizing from the founding of the United Nations through the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in 2000. It examines civil society activists in the United States, Northern Ireland, Argentina, and Liberia who challenge repressive leadership and widespread human rights violations by not only engaging in activism in their own countries, but also by mobilizing international forces to support their efforts. As part of her work, she has recently traveled to Liberia and Northern Ireland to interview peace activists.

In addition to her scholarly work, Professor Gallagher has been a long-time human rights advocate, serving as a volunteer legislative advocate with Amnesty International, observing elections in a number of former Soviet countries with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and working with survivors of sexual assault.