She taught high school history in South Carolina for several years and held managerial positions in private industry before returning to school to graduate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with an Master of Arts, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Doctor of Philosophy She studied at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University.
She is the author of many publications, including "These United States: A Nation in the Making 1890 to Present" (2015), "Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1896-1920" (), and "Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919-1950" (2008). An eighth-generation North Carolinian, Gilmore received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Wake Forest University. She taught history at Queens University of Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina before joining the Yale University as an assistant professor in 1994, full professor of history in 1998, and Peter V. & C. Vann Woodward Professor of History in 2001.
Her areas of expertise include: race relations, women"s and African-American history, the history of social reform, American religious activism, North Carolina history, the history of prostitution and the political, social and cultural history of the United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
She is collaborating with Thomas Sugrue on a synthetic reinterpretation of society and politics in twentieth century America.
Lerner-Scott Prize from the Organization of American Historians Frederick Jackson Turner Award from the American Historical Association for the best first book by an author James A. Rawley Prize from the Organization of American Historians for the best book on the history of race relations in the United States (1997) Julia Cherry Spruill Prize from the Southern Association of Women Historians Yale Heyman Prize for junior faculty.
She is also a member of the University"s African American studies and American studies departments and currently serves as the Acting Chair of the African American Studies Department.
