Lisa Materson

Professor Lisa Materson is a historian specializing in US women’s and gender history at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on women’s roles in social justice movements, particularly African American women’s political activism and anti-colonial solidarity. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University and a lecturer at Yale University before joining UC Davis. Her recent book Radical Solidarity: Ruth Reynolds, Political Allyship, and the Battle for Puerto Rico's Independence (2024) was named one of Ms. Magazine’s Best Feminist Books of the Year.

Her work bridges historical analysis with public scholarship, including co-editing The Oxford Handbook of American Women’s and Gender History and leading projects like the Empire Suffrage Syllabus. Key research areas include Puerto Rican independence movements, African American electoral politics during Jim Crow, and transnational solidarity networks.

• Education & Early Career: Postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton, lecturer at Yale
• Public Engagement: Co-founder of the Empire Suffrage Syllabus and Women’s History in the Pacific West projects
• Collaborations: Co-editor with Ellen Hartigan-O'Connor

Materson’s publications span monographs, handbooks, and peer-reviewed articles, emphasizing intersectional approaches to understanding race, gender, and colonialism in US history.