About
Stephanie Opperman is a Professor of History at Georgia College. She earned her doctorate from the University of Illinois Chicago in Latin American History. Her research interests focus on microhistories of women’s lives as the context for larger discussions of global society. Her book, Cold War Anthropologist: Isabel Kelly and Rural Development in Mexico, examined the career and personal life of Kelly in relation to evolving practices within diplomatic and anthropological circles. As the Principal Investigator and Co-Program Director for the NEH grant, “Flannery O'Connor and Milledgeville: Collecting the Past,” she worked with students to use Flannery O’Connor’s biography as the foundation for a more in-depth study of local history during the time of her writing career. Her current research centers the story of an African American female night club owner within a broader analysis of the active diaspora of Black musicians, singers, writers, and artists during the 1930s-1950s, not only demonstrating the global popularity of Black culture in this period but also the systems in place that fostered more intricate webs of connection between global populations.
