Yale Bulletin and Calendar

September 27-October 4, 1999

Volume 28, Number 6

First winners of Frederick Douglass
Book Prize named

The first $25,000 Frederick Douglass Book Prize for the most outstanding book published on the subject of slavery, resistance and/or abolition has been awarded to Ira Berlin, author of "Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery," and Philip D. Morgan, author of "Slave Counterpoint: Black Culture in the Eighteenth-Century Chesapeake and Lowcountry."

The new annual award -- the most generous prize in the field -- is administered by the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, a part of the Yale Center for International and Area Studies.

"The Frederick Douglass Prize, by rewarding scholars whose distinguished work makes a contribution to the history of slavery and abolition, is one more way in which the Gilder Lehrman Center promotes understanding of a subject matter critical to the United States and to the entire human community," said President Richard C. Levin.

"Yale is lucky to have a center which exemplifies the best of what the University wishes to stand for, and which honors that in others," he added.

The two winning books "demonstrate a new maturity in the study of slavery," according to David Brion Davis, director of the Gilder Lehrman Center and professor of history at Yale, who is himself one of the top scholars in the field.

"Both of these monumental studies describe slavery before the 19th century -- a critical period largely ignored until recent years," said Davis. "These books flesh out the long and important history of slavery in America before the creation of the United States, and help to lay to rest the myth that slavery was not an essential factor in our nation's development."

The new award is named for Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), who escaped enslavement to become one of the nation's greatest abolitionists, orators and reformers. A cast bronze medallion with Douglass' image will accompany the cash prize.

The creation of the Douglass Prize is designed to focus additional scholarly interest and public attention on the study of slavery and antislavery. As Richard Gilder observes, "Slavery is near the core of American history -- try to imagine the course of U.S. history without it. Much is known about slavery, but little is taught. We are determined to open up the subject for students, historians, and members of the public to understand."

In addition to the two prizewinners, five other authors received cash awards as runners-up: Julie Roy Jeffrey, for "The Great Silent Army of Abolitionism: Ordinary Women in the Antislavery Movement"; Robert Olwell, for "Masters, Slaves and Subjects: The Culture of Power in the South Carolina Low Country; 1740-1790"; Shane White and Graham White, for "Stylin'"; and Amy Dru Stanley for "From Bondage to Contract: Wage Labor, Marriage, and the Market in the Age of Slave Emancipation."

The Douglass Prize jury considered more than 80 entries published in 1998 whose topics range from slavery in colonial South Carolina to child slavery in modern South Asia

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First winners of Frederick Douglass Book Prize named

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