Education

2001 Baylor University, B.A.
2004 Baylor University, M.A.
2008 University of Mississippi, Ph.D.

Courses Taught

Sex and Seduction in the Early American Republic
Literature of the Early American Republic
The Nineteenth-Century Novel
The Alternative American Renaissance
Loyalist Women Writers of the American Revolution
The “F” Word: Origins of American Feminism
Survey of American Literature to the Civil War
Academic Writing and Research

Career Specialties

Kacy Dowd Tillman researches loyalist women writers of the American Revolution and early American as well as contemporary sentmental fiction/romance writing.

Her first area of specialty is eighteenth century manuscript culture, specifically letter-writing and diary-keeping. Her book, Stripped and Script: Loyalist Women Writers of the American Revolution. (University of Massachusetts Press, 2019), is about how women used letters, journals and letter journals to construct and distribute their own definitions of loyalty during the war. Tillman also formerly researched loyalty, neutrality, disaffection and pacifism in the late eighteenth century. She has also published on early American literature (particularly sentimental fiction) and manuscript culture more broadly in Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, Southern Studies, Literature of the Early American Republic, Legacy, American Literary History and Early American Literature.

Her second area of specialty is Romantasy and its readers. She is currently working on a survey of contemporary Romantasy readers via interviews and focus groups; the project is tentatively titled Reading the Romantasy. 

Professional and Community Activities

Books

Stripped and Script: Loyalist Women Writers of the American Revolution, U of Massachusetts P, 2019. ISBN: 978-1-62534-432-8

Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals and Books

“The Limits and Liberty of Loyalty: Black Loyalism in the Book of Negroes,” Early American Studies, 2024. Forthcoming.

“Isolation, Infection, and Information Silos in Early American Literature,” American Literature, vol. 96, no. 3, 2024, 325–353. 

“Longing and Belonging in the Age of Revolutions.” Early American Literature, vol. 55, no. 3, 2020, pp. 835-844. 

“Women Also Know Revolution.” Borealia: Early Canadian History. May 4, 2020.

“Women Also Know Loyalists.” Boreaila: Early Canadian History. May 6, 2020. 

“Constructing Female Loyalism.” The Consequences of Loyalism: Essays in Honors of Robert Calhoon. Eds. Rebecca Brannon and Joseph Moore. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2019.

“Writing Rape in the American Revolution,” Sexing Histories of Revolution Roundtable, Age of Revolutions, April 17, 2017. https://ageofrevolutions.com/2017/04/17/writing-rape-in- the-american-revolution/

“Loyalist Women and the Fight for the Right to Entry,” Age of Revolutions, March 14, 2016. https://ageofrevolutions.com/2016/03/14/loyalist-women-and-the-fight-for-the-right-to- entry/

“Paper Bodies: Letters and Letter-Writing in the Early American Novel.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature. 35.2 (2016): 123-144.

“Women Left Behind: Female loyalism, coverture, and Grace Growden Galloway’s Empire of Self” in Women’s Narratives of the Early Americas and the Formation of Empire Eds. Mary Balkun and Susan Imbarrato. New York: Palgrave, 2016. ISBN: 9781137559906

“Filial Piety in The History of Constantius and Pulchera.” Just Teach One Teaching Series. Common-Place. 13 June 2013. http://www.common-place.org/justteachone/?p=192.

“What is a Female Loyalist?” Common-Place. 13.4 (2013). http://www.common-place.org/ vol-13/no-04/tillman/

“Eliza Lucas Pinckney as Cultural Broker: Reconsidering a South Carolinian Legacy.” Southern Studies. 18.2 (Fall-Winter 2011): 49-65.

“The Epistolary Salon: Examining Eighteenth-Century American Letter-Writing as a Vehicle for Female Political Engagement.” Literature of the Early American Republic. 3 (2011): 62 – 80.

Reviews

Review of Imaginary Empires: Women Writers and Alternative Futures in Early US Literature by Maria O’Malley (2023). American Literary History. May 2023. 

Review of American Fragments: The Political Aesthetic of Unfinished Forms in the Early Republic (2019) by Daniel Diez Couch. Journal of the Early Republic. August 2022.

Review of Resisting Independence: Popular Loyalism in the Revolutionary British Atlantic (2020) by Brad A. Jones. Age of Revolutions. May 2021.

“The American Revolution in the Global Imagination.” The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation, vol. 61, no. 4, 2021. Review of Beyond 1776: Globalizing the Cultures of the American Revolution, edited by Maria O’Malley and Denys Van Renen.  

Review of Kelroy by Rebecca Rush. Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers, vol. 35, no. 1, 2018, pp. 106-108.

Review of The Edinburgh Companion to Nineteenth-Century American Letters and Letter-Writing, Ed. by Celeste-Marie Bernier, Judie Newman, and Matthew Pethers. American Literary History, 2017. https://academic.oup.com/alh/pages/alh_review_series_9

“A Nation Apart, Together,” review of Holy Nation: The Transatlantic Quaker Ministry in an Age of Revolution. By Sarah Crabtree. Common-Place, vol. 17, no. 2.5, 2017. http://common- place.org/book/a-nation-apart-together/

Review of Letters and Cultural Transformations in the United States, 1760 – 1860. Eds. by Theresa Strouth Gaul and Sharon M. Harris. Early American Literature, vol. 47, no. 1, 2012, pp. 239-242.

Conference Presentations

“The Legacies and Aftermaths of Loyalism.” Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. Philadelphia, PA. 2024. Panel Chair.

“Gamifying Honors Community through the ACE Points System.” Florida Collegiate Honors Conference. Tampa, FL. 2024. Panel Chair and Presenter. 

“Isolation, Infection, and Information Silos in Early American Literature.” Society of Early Americanists Conference. Washington, DC. 2023.

“Fake News and the Rhetoric of Disease in Early American Literature.” Early American Contexts for Twenty-First Century Woes Roundtable. Society of Early Americanists Conference. Atlanta, GA. 2021. 

“The Limits and Liberty of Loyalty: Black Loyalism in the Book of Negroes.” Society of Early Americanists Special Topics Conference. Exeter, UK. 2020.

“Building Bandersnatch like a Boss: How to Teach with Twine.” Early American Caucus Panel. American Studies Association. Honolulu, Hawaii. 2019. 

“Stripped and Script: Loyalist Women Writers of the American Revolution.” President’s Panel on Forthcoming Scholarship in the Field (by invitation). American Historical Association Conference. Chicago, Illinois. 2019.

"Coding Rape in the American Revolution: Trauma in the Loyalist Letters of Anna Rawle.” Society for the Study of American Women Writers Conference. Denver, Colorado. 2018.

Panel Chair. Religion and Politics in Early America Conference. St. Louis, Missouri. 2018. 

“‘The Eyes of All People Are Upon Us’: The Uncomfortable Publics of Early America.” Panel Chair. Society of Early Americanists Conference. Tulsa, Oklahoma. 2017.

“Elizabeth Fergusson’s Hyperlinked Salon.” Elizabeth Fergusson and the American Salon. Organizer and Presenter. Society of Early Americanists Conference. Tulsa, Oklahoma. 2017.

“American Loyalists and the Quest to Stay Home and Stay American.” Invited Respondent. Southern Historical Association. St. Petersburg, Florida. 2016.

“Women Left Behind: Grace Growden Galloway’s Empire of Self.” Society of Early Americanists/Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Conference. Chicago, Illinois. 2015.

“Genius Assessment: Using Genius to Teach Analysis and Conduct Assessment.” THATcamp Florida. Orlando, Florida. 2015.

“Using Illuminated Wikis to Foster Ethical Undergraduate Research.” Genius Fellowship. New York City, New York. 2014.

“Stripped: Female Loyalist Writers of the American Revolution.” London and the Americas: Society of Early Americanists. London, England. 2014.

“Teaching T(homas) Paine through RapGenius: Early American Literature and Collaborative Literacy.” American Literature Association. Washington, DC. 2014.

“Fair Food Fights and the Silk Stocking Brigade, or Rivington's New-York Gazette on Mobs.” Society of Early Americanists. Savannah, GA. 2013.

“‘Great Darkness Surrounded’: Rereading Elizabeth Ashbridge’s Account as Captivity Narrative.” American Studies Association. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 2012.

“Female Loyalist Letter Journals.” American Literature Association. San Francisco, CA. 2012. 

“Tories, Traitors, and Spies.” University of Tampa Honors Symposium. Tampa, FL. 2012. 

“Failed Epistolarity in Early American Novels.” Society of Early Americanists. Philadelphia, PA. 2011.

“Going Native: A Digital Immigrant’s Guide to Using Hybrid Wikis in the Classroom.” South Central Modern Language Association. Fort Worth, TX. 2010.

“Damned Tories of the Penny Post: Loyalist Women & the American Revolution.” American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies. Albuquerque, NM. 2010.

“The Letters of Elizabeth Murray Smith Inman.” Scholarly Tapas. Tampa, FL. 2009.

“Hyphenated Feminists: Gender & Cultural Difference in the Fictional Autobiographies of Maxine Hong Kingston, Isabelle Allende, and Marjane Satrapi.” Florida Consortium for Women’s and Gender Studies. Tampa, FL. 2009.

“‘Souls Upon Paper’: The Eighteenth-Century Letter as Rhetorical Drag.” American Literature Association. San Francisco, CA. 2008.

“‘Why Not a Woman?’: Examining Eighteenth-Century American Women’s Epistolarity through the Letters of Eliza Lucas Pinckney.” American Literature Association. Boston, MA. 2007.

“Lions Writing History: Everyday Modes of Resistance in the Autobiographies of Mary Prince, Olaudah Equiano, and Frederick Douglass.” South Central Modern Language Association. Dallas, TX. 2006.

“The Mulatto as Exotic Other: The Black Grotesque in Passing Novels.” South Atlantic Modern Language Association. Atlanta, GA. 2005.

“A Woman of Letters: Zora Neale Hurston as Autoethnographer.” Humanities Conference. Cambridge, England. 2005.

“Freaks Who Stare Back: Gothic Grotesques in Charles Brockden Brown’s Edgar Huntly.” Southwest/Texas Pop Culture Association. Albuquerque, NM. 2005.

“Flannery O’Connor’s Epistolary Identity.” Society for the Study of Southern Literature. Chapel Hill, NC. 2003.

“The Paradox in Print of Mystery and Manners.” Art and Soul. Baylor University. Waco, TX. 2003.

Organized Panels

“Gamifying Community in Honors through ACE Points.” Florida Collegiate Honors Conference. Tampa, FL. 2024.

“Crises in Contagions: Disease Logics, Infrastructures, & New Research in the Health Humanities.” Society of Early Americanists Conference. Washington, DC. 2023.

“Remembering Black Writers of the American Revolution.” Society of Early Americanists Special Topics Conference. Exeter, UK. March 2021.

“Elizabeth Fergusson and the American Salon.” Society of Early Americanists. Tulsa, Oklahoma. 2016.

 “Exiles, Emigrants, and Enemies: Outsiders of the American Revolution.” London and the Americas: Society of Early Americanists Conference. London, England. July 2014.

“Failed Epistolarity/Corresponding Possibilities.” Society of Early Americanists. Philadelphia, PA. 2011.

GUEST LECTURES AND KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS

“Stripped and Script,” Keynote Speaker, Congressional Library of Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, 2024. 

“Loyalist Women Writers of the American Revolution,” Keynote Speaker, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, Yorktown, Virginia, March 2022.

“The Information Contagion in Charlotte Temple,” guest lecturer, Dr. Angie Calcaterra, University of North Texas, March 2021.

“The Limits and Liberty of Loyalism,” Keynote Presentation, Consortium on the Revolutionary Era. February 2021.

“Stripped and Script,” American Revolutionary Roundtable in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. July 2020. 

“Scripted Silences in the diary of Deborah Norris Logan.” Baylor University. Waco, Texas. November 2015.

“Loyalist Women Writers of the American Revolution.” Society of the Colonial Dames. Tampa, Florida. November 2015.