Brenna W. Greer

Brenna Wynn Greer is a historian of race, gender, and culture in the twentieth century United States, who explores historical connections between capitalism, social movements and visual culture. Her first book, Represented: The Black Imagemakers Who Reimagined African American Citizenship (University of  Pennsylvania Press), examines the historical circumstances that made the media representation of black citizenship good business in the post-World War II era. She is currently at work on her second book, which examines the postwar development of black commercial publishing and its significance within U.S. culture and black life.

A past Woodrow Wilson and ACLS fellow, Greer is an Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography 2018-2010 Junior Fellow. As Wellesley faculty, she has held the Knafel Assistant Professor of Social Sciences chair and been awarded the Anna and Samuel Pinanski Teaching Award. She teaches topics in twentieth century U.S. and African American history, including: Constructing “America” and Americans” in U.S. History since 1865; The Cold War United States; The United States in the World War II Era; U.S. Consumer Culture and Citizenship; The Civil Rights Movement Reconsidered; Fashion Matters: Dress, Style, and Politics in U.S. History; Telling Stories: The Politics of Narrating the Black Freedom Struggle; and Seeing Black: African Americans and U.S. Visual Culture.

COURSES

HIST204   The United States History since 1865

HIST220   United States Consumer Culture and Citizenship

HIST249   Cold War Culture and Politics in the United States

HIST252   The Civil Rights Movement Reconsidered

HIST254   The United States in the World War II Era

HIST314   Seminar: Fashion Matters: Dress, Style, and Politics in U.S. History

HIST340   Seminar: Seeing Black: African Americans and United States Visual Culture

HIST341   Seminar: Telling Stories: The Politics of Narrating the Black Freedom Struggle