Lisa G. Materson

Lisa G. Materson is a Professor of U.S. women’s and gender history at the University of California, Davis. Her research explores women’s roles in social and political justice movements, emphasizing intersectional frameworks to analyze how gender shaped resistance strategies in U.S. history.

• Specializes in U.S. women's political history
• Focuses on anticolonial activism and African American women's electoral politics
• Recipient of grants from Harvard’s Charles Warren Center and Princeton’s Center for the Study of Religion
• Coeditor of The Oxford Handbook in American Women's and Gender History

Her recent book, Radical Solidarity (UNC Press, 2024), highlights Ruth Reynolds’ anticolonial activism and its global implications. Materson’s work bridges historical analysis with contemporary discussions on allyship and liberation politics.

Scientific Awards & Honors

• Honorable Mention, 2025 Elsa Goveia Book Prize (Association of Caribbean Historians)
• Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer

Materson serves on the board of Women and Social Movements and has contributed to publications like Ms. Magazine. Her research spans the late nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, focusing on marginalized narratives in U.S. history.