Mab (Mabelle Massey) Segrest (born February 20, 1949 in
Alabama) is an
American feminist writer and activist. Mab Segrest is best known for her 1994 autobiographical work
Memoir of a Race Traitor.In the 1970s, Segrest moved to North Carolina to attend
Duke, where she earned her
Ph.D in
English literature in 1979. Since 2002, Segrest has worked at
Connecticut College in
New London, Connecticut. In 2004, Segrest was appointed the Fuller-Matthai Professor of Gender &
Women's Studies there. Currently she is on
sabbatical and has a fellowship at Emory to research a book or series of books about the Central State Hospital in
Milledgeville, Georgia.
Social activism
Segrest has founded, served on the boards of, and consulted with a wide range of
social justice organizations throughout her life. Segrest is recognized for speaking and writing about
sexism,
racism,
homophobia,
classism, and other forms of oppression. After Feminary disbanded, she worked for six years (1983–1990) with North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence (NCARRV). During that time, she is credited by many for single-handedly ridding North Carolina of the Ku Klux Klan (Powell 102). She earned her livelihood from 1992-2000 as Coordinator of the Urban-Rural Mission (USA), part of the URM network of the World Council of Churches. After working full time with various political organizations, Segrest returned to academia.
Writing
Until it disbanded in 1983, Segrest worked in the southern...
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