EDUCATION
Ph.D. Yale University, Department of English. 1971.
M. Phil. Yale University, Department of English. 1969.
B.A. Bennington College, Division of Languages and Literature. 1966.
FIELDS OF TEACHING AND RESEARCH
American women's social and cultural history; gender and sexuality in U.S. history and culture.
Shaker women's history and literature.
Autobiography and oral history; African-American women's autobiography.
Gender and mass media.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Women's Studies, UMB. Full Professor, 1995 through present. (Associate Professor, 1982-95;
Assistant Professor, 1975-82.)
Assistant Professor, English Department, Boston University. 1971-75.
PUBLICATIONS: BOOKS
Harriet Tubman: The Life and The Life Stories . Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, forthcoming (2003).

(With Gail Dines) Gender, Race and Class in the Media . Second edition. Newbury Park, CA:
Sage Publications, 2002.
Mother's First-Born Daughters: Early Shaker Writings on Women and Religion . Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1993.
Gifts of Power: The Writings of Rebecca Jackson, Black Visionary, Shaker Eldress . Amherst:
University of Massachusetts Press, 1981.
SELECTED ARTICLES
"Reading the Narrative of Sojourner Truth as a Collaborative Text," Frontiers: A Journal of
Women's Studies , Vol. 16, No. 1 (Spring 1996), 29-52.
"'A Woman Mighty To Pull You Down': Married Women's Rights and Female Anger in the Anti-
Shaker Narratives of Eunice Chapman and Mary Marshall Dyer." Journal of Women's
History , Vol. 6, No. 1 (Summer 1994), 90-110.
"I Had to Study the Female Trait: Philemon Stewart, 'Petticoat Government' Issues and Later
19th Century Shakerism, The Shaker Quarterly Vol. 22, No. 4 (Winter 1994), 122-152.
"In Search of Harriet Tubman's Spiritual Autobiography." National Women's Studies Association
Journal . Vol. 5, No. 2, Summer 1993, 162-182.
"'Ye Are My Epistles': The Construction of Ann Lee Imagery in Early Shaker Sacred Literature."
Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion , vol. 8, no. 1, Spring 1992, 83-103.
"Women's Contributions to the Shaker Myth of Origins." Harvard Divinity Bulletin , Vol. 21,
No. 1, 1991-92, 12-15.
"'Weary of Petticoat Government': The Specter of Female Rule in Early Nineteenth-century
Shaker Politics." Communal Societies , 1992, 1-17.
"Pauli Murray's Histories of Loyalty and Revolt." In William L. Andrews and Nellie Y. McKay
(eds.), Special Issue of Black American Literature Forum on Twentieth-century
Autobiography. Vol. 24, No. 2, Summer 1990, 315-335.

"`We Got Our History Lesson': Oral-Historical Autobiography and Women's Spoken Arts
Traditions." In Florence Howe (ed.), Tradition and the Talents of Women , University of
Illinois Press 1991, 125-144.
SELECTED CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS.
"Discovering the First Generation of Western Shaker Women Leaders," paper presented at
Pleasant Hill Shaker Community Friends' Weekend, February 22, 1997.
"Teaching and Learning in a Women's Studies Media Course," Panel presentation at New
England Women's Studies Association Annual Conference, University of Connecticut,
Storrs, April 22, 1995.
“How Trustworthy is Mediated Biography? The Cases of Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth,”
Women’s Research Forum presentation, University of Massachusetts/Boston, March 27,
1995.
“Reflections on the Post-Prophetic Career of Philemon Stewart,” paper presented July 8, 1994,
Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community Bicentennial Conference, Poland Spring, Maine.
"'Retelling Stories of What Preceded Us': Contested Racial Representations in the Secondary
Texts of 'I'll Fly Away,'" Paper presented at American Studies Association Annual
Conference, Nashville, Tennessee, October 27, 1994.
"Sojourner Truth and Olive Gilbert: Issues Raised by White Women's Mediation of 19th-
Century African-American Women's Life Stories." Paper presented at Berkshire
Conference of Women's Historians, Vassar College, June 12, 1993.
"'A Woman Mighty to Pull You Down': Married Women's Rights and Female Power in the Anti-
Shaker Narratives of Eunice Chapman and Mary Marshall Dyer." Paper presented at
Shaker Museum Lecture Series, Old Chatham, New York, September 1992.
"'This is the Story Harriet Told to the Writer': In Search of Harriet Tubman's Spiritual
Autobiography." Conference paper presented at the American Studies Association,

Baltimore, November 3, 1991, and to Northeast Regional Association of American
Academy of Religion, at Northeastern University, April, 1992.
"Ye Are My Epistles." Public lecture presented at Harvard Divinity School, February 4, 1991.
"Visionary Experience and Power." Invited public lecture given at University of New Hampshire
"New Voices" series, November 8, 1990; at Fruitlands Museum, Harvard,
Massachusetts, February 17, 1991; and at Shaker Village Museum, New Enfield, New
Hampshire, May 21, 1991.
RECENT COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATIVE WORK AND SERVICE
Program Director, Women's Studies, 1996-98, 1999-present.
Member, Study of Religion Advisory Committee, 1995-present.
Member, East Asian Studies Program Advisory Committee, 1999-present.
Co-chair, General Education First-Year Seminar Development Committee, 1997-1999; and spring semester 2000.
Member, General Education Steering Committee, Sept. 1997 to 1999.
Chair, Majors, Honors and Special Programs Committee, CAS Senate, 1991-2; 1992-93.
Member, Black Studies Personnel Committee, 1991-93, 1995-6.
Member, American Studies Program Search Committee, 1992-93; 1995-96; Tenure Committee
2001-2.
Member of Academic Subcommittee, Women in Politics and Government Graduate
Certificate Program, 1991-93.
RECENT PROFESSIONAL AND PUBLIC SERVICE ACTIVITIES
Panel presentation at National Leadership Meeting of Women's Studies in Religion Program,
Harvard Divinity School, January 25, 1997.

Presentation on Women's Studies program development, at invitation of Bridgewater State
College Women's Studies program, Dec. 6, 1996.
Editorial board, SHAKER (Shaker Museum's occasional publication series), 1990-94.