Greenhill Upper School Teacher Publishes Latest Work

Amanda Bresie Ph.D. '96, Greenhill Upper School history teacher, published her most recent work, Veiled Leadership: Katharine Drexel, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, and Race Relations, in September 2023.

The book examines the lives of Mother Katharine Drexel and her congregation within the context of larger constructs of gender, race, religion, reform, and national identity. It explores what happens when a non-dominant culture tries to impose its views and morals on other non-dominant cultures. In other words, as outliers themselves — they were semi-cloistered Catholic women from primarily immigrant backgrounds in a culture that regarded their lifestyles as alien and unnatural — their attempts to Americanize and assimilate Black and Indigenous people, whose families had been in the country for generations longer than the nuns’ own, adds complexity to our understanding of cultural hegemony.

“My hope… is that the story of a group of women who dared to change the world – even with flawed methods – shines through,” said Dr. Bresie, current President of the Texas Catholic Historical Association.

The Texas Catholic Historical Society is hosting a virtual book talk presentation with Dr. Bresie on Thursday, March 7 at 5:00 pm. She will discuss her publication with Dr. Petro Munro Hendry of Louisiana State University. Join the presentation here.