Justice Bell Foundation
Reclaiming Women's History. Highlighting Women's Contributions. Promoting Voter Participation.

Elizabeth Higginbotham (B.A., City College of the City University of New York; M.A., Ph.D., Brandeis University) is Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of Delaware where she also held appointments in Black American Studies and Women and Gender Studies from 1998 until 2015.  She was one of the founding members of the Center for Research on Women at the University of Memphis, where she did award winning research and faculty development activities.  Along with colleagues Bonnie Thornton Dill and Lynn Weber, she is a recipient of the American Sociological Association Jessie Bernard Award and Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award for the work of the Center for Research on Women at the University of Memphis where she had appointments from 1983-1998.

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Higginbotham is the author of Too Much to Ask: Black Women in the Era of Integration (University of North Carolina Press, 2001) and co-editor of Women and Work: Exploring Race, Ethnicity, and Class (Sage Publications, 1997; with Mary Romero). Her publications include Race in Society: The Changing Landscape Fourth Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth: Cengage Learning 2016 with Margaret Andersen. She has also authored many articles in journals and anthologies on the work experiences of African American women, women in higher education, and curriculum transformation.

Martha has combined education and filmmaking for over three decades. In the mid-1970s, frustrated that there were so few films about women, she created Wild West Women Films in 1976 to create films and media for women’s studies programs, and to educate women and men about women’s place in history and the arts. She is the Executive Director and continues to produce films about women in order to provide positive role models for women and girls. She co-produced the Justice Bell Foundation's documentary, Finding Justice: The Untold Story of Women's Fight for the Vote. Martha taught English, ethics, and women’s studies for over 40 years in high schools and colleges, most recently at the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles.

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Martha is on the board of the National Women’s History Project and Girls Learn International. She is a mentor at Girls Today, Women Tomorrow. She is a member of the Alliance of Women Directors. She is a graduate of Earlham College (BA), New York University (MA, PhD) and AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women.