Georgina Hickey, Ph.D.

Georgina Hickey (PhD, University of Michigan) is a professor of History, specializing in U.S. Urban and Women’s History.  She is the author of Hope and Danger in the New South City: Working Class Women and Urban Development in Atlanta, 1890-1940 (Georgia 2003), and Breaking the Gender Code: Women and Urban Public Space in the Twentieth Century United States (Texas, 2023) as well as articles on women’s access to public space and urban-based activism. Her current research explores the intersection of grassroots movements for social change and electoral politics in post-1967 Detroit through the public life of long-time city council member, activist, and social worker, Maryann Mahaffey.  Hickey teaches courses on urban, social, and cultural history; social movements; and race and gender.  She is an affiliate faculty member of the Urban and Regional Studies and Women and Gender Studies programs. 

Teaching Interests

U.S. History, Social History, Women’s History , Urban History,  Grassroots Activism & Leadership, Qualitative Research Methods

Research Interests

U.S. History, Women, Cities, Public Space, Social Movements, Detroit

PhD Institution: History, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, 1995.

Breaking the Gender Code: Women and Urban Public Space in the Twentieth Century United States, (University of Texas Press, hardcover 2023; Tantor audiobook, 2024).

Hope and Danger in the New South City: Working-Class Women and Urban Development in Atlanta, 1890-1940 (University of Georgia Press, 2003, 2005)

“Privacy in Public: Anti-Harassment Campaigns for Mass Transit in the 21st Century US,” Women’s Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 5th International Conference, Volume 2: Technical Papers (Feb 2015): 365-379.

“The Respectability Trap: Gender Conventions in 20th Century Movements for Social Change,” Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought: 7(2013): http://digitalcommons.salve.edu/jift/vol7/iss1/2

“The Geography of Pornography: Neighborhoods, Feminism, and Battles against “Dirty Bookstores” in Minneapolis,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies 32(Spring 2011): 125-151.

Susan B. Anthony Campus Award, 2012, (recognizing efforts on behalf of women), Commission for Women, UM-Dearborn

Outstanding Research Award, 2009, Women’s and Gender Studies Program, UM-Dearborn, for “Barred from the Barroom: Second Wave Feminists and Public Accommodations in U.S. Cities,” in Feminist Studies (Fall 2008)

Faculty Community Service-Learning Award, 2007, from Michigan Campus Compact, 2007

Outstanding Research Award, 2003, Women’s and Gender Studies Program, UM-Dearborn, for Hope and Danger in the New South City: Working-Class Women and Urban Development in Atlanta