Allie R. Lopez

Advisor

Dr. Robert Elder

Areas of Specialization

US 20th Century, African American History, Civil Rights Movement, US South, African Diaspora, Oral History 

Education

PhD, Baylor University
BA, University of North Alabama

Research Narrative & Academic Interests

Broadly, my research focuses on the Black freedom struggle in the rural South. My work examines rural Alabama during the civil rights era and considers how concerns over financial stability, familial protection, and commitment to place deterred resistance efforts. I have published articles and reviews in TIME (Made by History), Agricultural History, the Alabama Review, Sound Historian, Fides et Historia, and Society for US Intellectual History.

Selected Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles

“Segregationist Schemes: The Citizens’ Council, Reverse Freedom Rides, and Opposition to Welfare in Alabama, 1962–1968, Alabama Review

“Will We cut Off Our Bread by Doing Something More?: Economic Concerns and Civil Rights Activism in the Southwest Alabama Farmers Cooperative Association, 1966–1982,” Agricultural History, Forthcoming

“Segregationist Schemes: The Citizens’ Council, Reverse Freedom Rides, and Opposition to Welfare in Alabama, 1962–1968,” Alabama Review, April 2025

Public-Facing Articles

TIME, Made by History
“The Origin of the ‘Welfare Queen’ Myth”

TIME, Made by History
Co-author, “The History of Rural Black Land Loss

Patheos, Anxious Bench
“Everyday People in Everyday Places”

Encyclopedia Entries

Encyclopedia of Alabama "Reverse Freedom Rides"

Book Reviews

Nancy Koester, We Will Be Free: The Life and Faith of Sojourner Truth in Fides et Historia

Angela D. Sims, Lynched: The Power of Memory in a Culture of Terror in Sound Historian, 2022.

Melissa J. Wilde, Birth Control Battles: How Race and Class Divided American Religion in Society for US Intellectual History, 2021.

Blog Posts

“Everyday People in Everyday Places: Local Civil Rights Movements and the Long Black Freedom Struggle, Patheos, Anxious Bench, 2023.

“The Call to Comprehensive Justice,” Patheos, Anxious Bench, 2022.

Waco History App

• “Mercy Dee Walton”
• “Urban Renewal”
• “The Harley Berg Show”
• “Karem Shrine Temple”
• “Shep Mullens”
• For more, see https://wacohistory.org/items/browse/

Selected Activities

Awards

• Keller Key Recipient
• Outstanding English Graduate
• Outstanding History Graduate
• Outstanding Academic Achievement, UNA Honors College
• OAH John Higham Research Fellowship
• AHA Franzine Taylor Research Grant
• Summersell Center for the Study of the South Travel Grant

Fellowships

• Graduate Student Fellowship, Baylor University, 2020-Present

Grants

• OAH John Higham Research Fellowship                                                                   
• AHA Coley Student Research Award
• Summersell Center for the Study of the South, Travel Grant Recipient

Regular Course Offerings

• HIS 1300 | US in Global Perspective: Social Movements
• HIS 4385 | The United States in the Sixties