Jennifer Ritterhouse

Jennifer Ritterhouse is a Professor of History at George Mason University, specializing in 20th-century U.S. history with a focus on the American South, African American history, women and gender studies, and childhood studies. She holds degrees from Harvard University (B.A.) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (M.A., Ph.D.).

Her research explores the intersection of race, class, and gender in Southern history. Notable works include *Discovering the South: One Man's Travels Through a Changing America in the 1930s* (2017), which won a Family History Book Award, and *Growing Up Jim Crow* (2006), which examines how children learned racial hierarchies. Current projects include a book on Betsy Brinson and the Southern Women’s Rights Project, highlighting intersectional feminist activism.

Ritterhouse teaches courses on U.S. South history, research methods, and 20th-century America. Her recent publications (2017–2023) focus on sociolinguistics, heritage language education, census methodologies, and identity politics. She has advised three doctoral dissertations and is affiliated with GMU’s Women and Gender Studies program.

Her awards include the 2017 Family History Book Award and an Honorable Mention from the Gustavus Myers Center. She maintains an active research agenda, combining historical scholarship with critical analyses of contemporary issues in education and public policy.