Jane Sherron De Hart (born 1936) is an American feminist historian and

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

academic. She is a professor emerita at

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

. De Hart has authored and edited several works on the

history of women in the United States The history of women in the United States encompasses the lived experiences and contributions of women throughout American history. The earliest women living in what is now the United States were Native Americans. During the 19th century, wo ...

, the Federal Theatre Project, the Equal Rights Amendment, and

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by Presiden ...

. During the 1970s, she founded the women's studies program at the

University of North Carolina at Greensboro The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. UNCG, like all members of the UNC system, is a stand- ...

Early life and education

De Hart was born in Asheville, North Carolina and raised in

Bryson City, North Carolina Bryson City is a town in Swain County, North Carolina in the United States. The population was 1558 as of the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of Swain County. Located in what was historically the land of the Cherokee, Bryson City was founded as ...

. She graduated with a degree in history from Duke University. On a Carnegie Fellowship, De Hart earned a Ph.D. at Duke University in 1967. She married while attending graduate school and moved to

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

where she continued work on her dissertation and taught at

Douglass College Douglass Residential College, is an undergraduate, non degree granting higher education program of Rutgers University-New Brunswick for women. It succeeded the liberal arts degree-granting Douglass College after it was merged with the other und ...

. Her dissertation on the Federal Theatre Project became her first book.

Career

In 1970, De Hart joined

for ten years, first temporarily before becoming permanent professor and founding the women's studies program. She was co-bicentennial chair of American studies at

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

from 1981 to 1982. De Hart became a professor of history and director of women's studies at

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

. In 1992, De Hart joined the

. In 2018, De Hart published ''Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life''. It was the first full-length biography of Ginsburg.

Awards and honors

De Hart was a fellow of the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

in 1975 and 1998. In 1991, she was awarded the

Victoria Schuck Award The Victoria Schuck Award is an annual prize granted by the American Political Science Association to the author of the best book published in the previous year on the topic of women and politics. The award is named in honor of the political scie ...

alongside Donald G. Mathews for their book on the intersection of the Equal Rights Amendment and sex, gender, and politics.

Selected works

* * * * Reviews of ''Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life'': * * * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:De Hart, Jane Sherron 1936 births Living people Writers from Asheville, North Carolina People from Bryson City, North Carolina Feminist historians American feminist writers 20th-century American historians 21st-century American biographers American women biographers Duke University alumni University of North Carolina at Greensboro faculty University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty University of California, Santa Barbara faculty 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Women's studies academics Fellows of the National Endowment for the Humanities