She was a persistent forerunner of feminist thought in American sociology and her life's work is characterized as extraordinarily productive spanning several intellectual and political eras.
[4][5] The final chapter of her book American Community Behavior is heavily based on Raphael Lemkin's work and is considered one of the earliest sociological studies of genocide.
Bernard's father started out delivering dairy products in Minneapolis, later became a haberdasher and finally a real estate broker.
However, Bernard graduated from public high school in 1920 and left home to study in social sciences at the University of Minnesota.
This time would also mark her movement toward a feminist position in sociology as seen in the qualitative research and critical analysis prevalent in her later work.
She published the majority of her books in this period as well as several articles and presentations, establishing herself as a leading contributor to professional and lay understandings of the sociology of gender.
Her work was further marked by a critical rejection of sociology as a positivistic science to the extent where she rethought her early writings in light of a feminist position.
[15] Since the mid-1940s, Jessie's focus was to increase understanding of the effects of sexism on women's experience of marriage, parenting, education and economic life.
[19] Bernard was awarded the title "Research Scholar Honoris Causa" by Pennsylvania State University in 1965.
[21] She was honored by numerous associations and institutions of higher education in recognition of her work and contributions to sociology, feminist theory and the women's movement.
[22][23] After working as research assistant to her sociology professor, Luther Lee Bernard for 4 years, she married him on September 23, 1925.
[24][25][26] During her time at Washington University in St. Louis, Bernard struggled to obtain personal and professional independence and she separated from her husband in 1936 for a period of four years until the couple reconciled in 1940.