Mary Elizabeth Massey was born in
Morrilton, Arkansas, on 25 December 1915. She was awarded her
B.A. degree from
Hendrix College in 1937 and then her
M.A. from the same institution three years later. She received her
Ph.D. from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1947. Massey taught
high school in Arkansas in 1937–39 and then became head of the history department at Hendrix from 1940 to 1942. She became professor of history at
Flora MacDonald College in
Red Springs, North Carolina in 1942–44 and a teaching fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1944 to 1946. She was appointed as
assistant professor at
Winthrop College in
Rock Hill, South Carolina, in 1947, promoted to
associate professor three years later and then to full professor in 1954. Massey also acted as chair of the department in 1960–64. She died in
Durham, North Carolina on 24 December 1974. ==Activities==