Department of HistoryHeather McNamee

Heather McNamee

  1. Assistant Professor
Email Addressheather.mcnamee@wsu.edu
LocationWilson-Short Hall 321
Phone509-335-5205

Biography

Education:

  • PhD, University of Memphis, 2022
  • MA History, Arkansas State University, 2010
  • BS Interdisciplinary Studies with Emphasis in History and Political Science, Arkansas State University, 2008

Academic and Professional

Heather McNamee specializes in 20th Century race, gender, and sexuality in the U.S. South. Her primary interests are Black activism in education after school desegregation and LGBTQ+ activism in the South and in her home state of Arkansas specifically. Her background as a high school social studies teacher is the foundation for her interests in public education and social justice pedagogy. Before coming to WSU, she taught various courses including History of Sexuality in the United States, Methods of Social Studies Education, Digital Technology for the History Educator, and both U.S. survey courses. At WSU, she teaches Introduction to Social Studies Education, Methods of Social Studies Education, and U.S. Since 1877.

Research Interests

McNamee is currently revising her dissertation “The Road to Respect: African Americans and the Fight for Equal Education in Jonesboro, Arkansas Since 1920” and will submit a book proposal to the University of Arkansas Press soon. This book explores Black activism following school desegregation in Jonesboro, Arkansas in 1966. The work adds to other histories that focus on the long Black Freedom Movement by highlighting the ways white supremacy remained in public education following desegregation. Desegregation ushered in a new wave of Black activism as parents, community leaders, and the students themselves fought daily indignities and discrimination.

McNamee is the current program director for the Arkansas Humanities Council’s “Reflective Images: A Kaleidoscope of Change and Impact of the LGBTQ+ Community in Arkansas.” This grant-funded initiative highlights the contributions of LGBTQ+ Arkansans to the state, the South, and the United States more broadly. This 3-year program ends in Spring 2025.

McNamee has one published article in the Arkansas Historical Quarterly. “Of Incendiary Origin: Interracial, IntraClass, and InterClass Intimidation and VIolence in Craighead County, Arkansas” examined the various motivations and tactics of night riding in Northeast Arkansas.

In addition to focusing on revising her dissertation to book form, Dr. McNamee is also in the research phase of an article about trans activism against police brutality in 1970s Arkansas.

Digital/Public History Projects