Speaker Profile Thumbnail for Beverly Guy-Sheftall

Founding Director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center at Spelman College | Former President of the National Women's Studies Association | Speaker on Gender, Race, and Social Justice

Beverly Guy-Sheftall Speaking Fee: $10,000 and Below

Founding Director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center at Spelman College | Former President of the National Women's Studies Association | Speaker on Gender, Race, and Social Justice

Speaker Profile Thumbnail for Beverly Guy-Sheftall
Speaking Fee:
$10,000 and Below

Travels From:
ATL - Atlanta, GA

Primary Topic Category:
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) / Social Justice

Secondary Topic Category:
African American & Black

 

Beverly Guy-Sheftall Speaker Profile: At A Glance

Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall is a pioneering scholar and thought leader in the fields of gender and race studies. She is the founding director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center at Spelman College and served as president of the National Women's Studies Association. A widely published author, she has been instrumental in shaping academic discourse around feminism and social justice. Her work continues to influence generations of scholars, activists, and educators. Based in Atlanta, she remains a leading voice in the fight for equity and inclusion.

Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall is a pioneering scholar, educator, and activist whose work has profoundly shaped the fields of Black feminist thought and women's studies. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1946, she was raised by her mother, Ernestine Varnado Guy, a mathematics teacher who instilled in her daughters the importance of independence and education. At just 16, Guy-Sheftall enrolled at Spelman College, where she majored in English and minored in secondary education, graduating with honors in 1966. After completing a fifth year of study at Wellesley College, she earned a master's degree in English from Atlanta University. Her thesis, "Faulkner’s Treatment of Women in His Major Novels," reflected her early interest in gender dynamics within literature. She began her teaching career at Alabama State University before returning to Spelman in 1971 as a faculty member in the English Department. Recognizing the need for institutional support for women's studies, she founded the Women’s Research and Resource Center at Spelman in 1981—the first of its kind at a historically Black college or university. Throughout her career, Dr. Guy-Sheftall has been a prolific writer and editor. Her publications include seminal works such as Sturdy Black Bridges: Visions of Black Women in Literature, Words of Fire: An Anthology of African American Feminist Thought, and Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women’s Equality in African American Communities. She also co-founded SAGE: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women, providing a dedicated platform for scholarship on the experiences of women of African descent. Beyond academia, she has been deeply involved in advocacy, serving on the boards of organizations like the National Black Women’s Health Project and the National Council for Research on Women. In 2017, she established the Dr. Levi Watkins Jr. Scholars Program at Spelman to support LGBTQ advocates, honoring her cousin's legacy as a civil rights pioneer and medical trailblazer. Dr. Guy-Sheftall's contributions have been recognized with numerous accolades, including fellowships from the Kellogg and Woodrow Wilson Foundations and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her enduring commitment to intersectional feminism continues to inspire and influence generations of scholars and activists.
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