Margaret L. Freeman: What are the details about sorority history beyond the founders?


Welcome to episode # 104 of Fraternity Foodie! Today we have with us Margaret L. Freeman, author of the latest book to hit the shelves called Women of Discriminating Taste: White Sororities and the Making of American Ladyhood.

Margaret is a trained writer, researcher, and cultural historian. She completed undergraduate studies in history and anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and received a masters in Public History from North Carolina State University and a doctorate in American Studies from the College of William & Mary. She has taught college courses in American Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Sociology. She also worked as a Jill of all trades in humanities nonprofits.

We find out why Margaret chose UNC Chapel Hill for her undergraduate experience, more about her experience in a NPC sorority, the motivation to examine the role of historically white sororities in the shaping of white womanhood in the twentieth century, the selection of new members on the basis of social class, religion, race, or physical attractiveness, the differences between organizations primarily based in the South versus the North, the history of contemporary sororities’ difficult campus relationships, differences in approach between fraternities and sororities in terms of managing all of this, and her findings on Heterosocializing in White College Sororities in a chapter of a book called Rethinking Campus Life: New Perspectives on the History of College Students in the United States. We also find out her favorite seafood spot in Portland, Maine! Enjoy.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlTkmcq_7Bs