Personal Statement:
My research interests include American women's history, women's activism in 19th and 20th century social and political reform movements, women and religion, the 20th century interracial movement, and African American entertainment. My current work, focused upon the history of African American women and religion, is a comprehensive exploration of how religion informed and shaped the public lives and activism of African American women and how that in turn has influenced the American experience more broadly. By casting a broad net, I seek to create a comparative framework for considering the shifts and transitions that mark generational change and developments as well as regional and class variations that have shaped the struggle for racial uplift and social justice. This work explores the interracial movement, particularly the role of the Federal Council of Churches and Church Women United (CWU) in bridging the racial divide and helping to lay the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement. It demonstrates the ways in which women cultivated power bases within religious and secular organizations to implement reform agendas and influence public policy, even before the enactment of the nineteenth amendment.

Representative Publications:
Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement. New York University Press, Fall 2001. co-edited with V. P. Franklin.

Daughters of Thunder: Black Women Preachers and Their Sermons, 1850-1979 (Jossey Bass Publishers, 1997).

My Soul Is A Witness: A Chronology of the Civil Rights Era, 1954-1965 (Henry Holt, 2000), co-author V. P. Franklin.

A Treasury of African American Christmas Stories, Vols. I and II (Henry Holt, 1997, 1999), compiler and editor.

African American Women and the Vote, 1837-1965 (Univ. of Mass., 1997), co-editor with Ann Gordon, et. al.

"Vindicating the Race: Contributions to African-American Intellectual History," Journal of Negro History, Atlanta, 1996, co-editor V. P. Franklin.

Forthcoming Book:
"'Jesus, Jobs, and Justice': The History of African American Women and Religion (tentative title). Alfred Knopf.

Articles and Book Chapters:
"'The Relief Corps of Heaven': Black Women as Philanthropists," in Pier C. Rogers, ed., Philanthropy in Communities of Color, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), Vol. I, No. 1, Spring 2001.

"Across the Divide: The Interracial and Interdenominational Efforts of Black and White Church Women: An Historical Reconnaissance," in Rosalyn Terborg Penn and Janice Sumler Edmonds, eds., Black Women's History at the Intersection of Knowledge and Power: Association of Black Women Historians' Twentieth Anniversary Anthology, (Tapestry Press, Ltd., 2000).

"Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: Abolitionist and Feminist Reformer, 1825-1911," in Ann D. Gordon with Bettye Collier-Thomas, et.al., eds., Afro-American Women and the Vote, 1837-1965, (University of Massachusetts Press, 1997).

"Minister and Feminist Reformer: The Life of Florence Spearing Randolph," in Judith Weisenfeld and Richard Newman, eds., This Far By Faith: Readings in African-American Women's Religious Biography, (Routledge Press, 1996).

"Creating A Place for Ourselves: The Rise of Humbert L. Howard, Black Art, and the Pyramid Club," Humbert Howard, Philadelphia Painter, Levy Gallery of the Arts in Philadelphia, Moore College of Art and Design, 1996.

"Race, Class and Color: The African American Discourse on Identity," Journal of American Ethnic History, Vol. 14, No. 1, Fall 1994, pp. 5-31, co-author James E. Turner. Immigration History Society's Carlton Quayle Award for best article.

"Harvey Johnson and the Brotherhood of Liberty," in Kenneth Kusmer, ed., From Reconstruction to the Great Migration, (Garland Press, 1991).

"Documenting the Black Experience," in Elinor Des Verney Stinnette, W. Paul Coates, and Thomas C. Battle, Black Bibliophiles and Collectors: Preservers of Black History, (Howard University Press, 1990).

"Recovering the Military History of Black Women," Minerva's Musings, Vol. I, No. I, Spring, 1983.

Fellowships and Research Grants:

Lilly Endowment, Inc., Grant to support academic leave, 2003-04.

Ford Foundation Grant to support academic leave, 2003-04.

Visiting Fellow, Princeton University's Center for the Study of Religion, 2003-04.

NEH and Rockefeller Fellow, National Humanities Center, Research Triangle, 2001-02.

Episcopal Women's History Project Grant, 2000-01.

Ford Foundation Research Grant, 1999-2001.

Lilly Endowment, Inc., Research Grants, 1991, 1994, 1997.

NEH Research Grant, 1982

NEH Research Conference Grant, 1979.

Ford Foundation Fellowship, 1972.

Southern Fellowship Fund Grant, 1972.

Notes:
Professor Collier-Thomas was the director of the Center for African American History and Culture in the College of Liberal Arts from 1989-2001.

Professor Collier-Thomas founded and served as the first executive director of the Bethune Museum and Archives, National Historic Site, in Washington, D.C. from 1979-1989. This institution is now an affiliate unit of the National Park Service.