Gerda Lerner

Who was Gerda Lerner?

Gerda Lerner was a historian, author and teacher. She was a professor emeritus of history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a visiting scholar at Duke University.

Lerner was one of the founders of the field of women's history, and was a former president of the Organization of American Historians. She played a key role in the development of women's history curricula. She taught what is considered to be the first women's history course in the world at the New School for Social Research in 1963. She was also involved in the development of similar programs at Long Island University, at Sarah Lawrence College from 1968 to 1979, at Columbia University, and since 1980 as Robinson Edwards Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

She also wrote the screenplay for her husband Carl Lerner’s film Black Like Me.