Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Eleonore Raoul Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History at Emory University, died on January 2, 2007 at the age of 65.   Professor Fox-Genovese revolutionized the field of women’s studies in the 1990’s and helped redefine feminism by taking seriously what contemporary women actually say about their needs and aspirations.   After teaching at the University of Rochester and SUNY Binghamton, Betsey Fox-Genovese joined Emory’s history department in 1986 and founded the Institute for Women’s Studies, directing it until 1991.   Her ground-breaking work Within the Plantation Household:  Black and White Women of the Old South (1998) received several prizes, and in 2003 she was awarded a National Humanities Medal for her outstanding contribution to the humanities.  With characteristic humility, Fox-Genovese told the Emory student newspaper that she was stunned to receive this honor.  “There was nothing further from my mind,” she said. “It was nowhere on the radar screen.  It’s amazing that there could be someone out there that sees me that way.” 

Professor Fox-Genovese and her husband, Eugene Genovese, founded the journal Marxist Perspectives in the late 1970’s and were known for a time as “the king and queen of radicalism.”   But Betsey’s research led her in the direction of a social theory more focused on the person and friendlier to the cultural importance of family and religious faith.  Her books Feminism without Illusions: a Critique of Individualism (1991) and Feminism is Not the Story of My Life (1996) exposed the increasing irrelevance of extremist feminism to the lives of ordinary women and provoked consternation in the “mainstream” women’s studies community.  Betsey’s intellectual journey became a journey of faith as well, leading to her conversion to Catholicism in 1995.  In the dozen years since, she became a leading advocate for strengthening marriage and family life, urging the priority of the common good over narrowly selfish interests.  She delivered a keynote address at Murray Hill Institute’s inaugural conference in October 2000 on “Women and the Transformation of Culture,” noting that women “are the ones who are currently best positioned to shape the relations among persons and the tenor of culture during the new century and, perhaps, the new millennium.” 

Among Professor Fox-Genovese’s outstanding qualities was her generosity toward her students, and indeed to everyone who sought her out.  Though increasingly beset in later years with health limitations, Betsey kept up a demanding schedule of speaking engagements and public appearances.  Yet she insisted that “My greatest joy at Emory has always been my students.”  For many years, Betsey hosted a monthly luncheon for women graduate students, offering advice and encouragement and providing them with an academic community.  While the influence of Professor Fox-Genovese and her work will continue to grow and have positive effects on our culture, we mourn the loss of a gifted scholar who could so ably and thoughtfully speak the truth in love, a dear colleague, mentor, and friend.

Laura Garcia is Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Boston College.