Name: Teresa M. Goforth
Year in program: 6
ABD Y/N: Yes
Primary supervisor: Helen Veit
Major field: U.S. History
Minor fields: African American History, Public History
I am currently the Director of Exhibitions at the MSU Museum, but have remained in the classroom most of my career, teaching history and Museum Studies at LCC, MSU, and CMU. I was able to return to my PhD path in 2019.
I finished comps about a year ago and have started dissertation research. I explore the War on Poverty in Appalachia in the 1960s, particularly the ways state and federal agencies leaned into Appalachian stereotypes while developing programs. I want to understand how Appalachians viewed themselves in this moment. Were they consulted as programs were developed? Were African Americans in Appalachia even a consideration in the US War on Poverty? War on Poverty programs were paternalistic and solidified positions of those already in power in state and local governments and punished locals who created their own successful programs for themselves, but threatened existing local power structures.