Bending History’s Arc
Alumna Cassie Miller uses the lessons of history to combat hate and extremism at Southern Poverty Law Center
As an undergraduate exploring in library archives, Carnegie Mellon University alumna Cassie Miller (DC 2011, 2016) fell in love.
“Sifting through rare materials, gathering what seems to be disparate pieces of information, bringing them together into a coherent argument, I love the craft and process of history,” Cassie says.
While digging up documents for research papers about the U.S. labor movement, class struggles and the fight for Black equality, she discovered a way to channel her passion for history into social justice change.
“It was painfully clear that all of the things I was studying, all those battles that had happened in the past, were ongoing,” Cassie says. “I couldn't be a student of history without feeling like the right place to be was alongside the people who were oppressed.”
Now as a senior research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center, she’s fighting today’s battles and helping write history.