Prizes for The Invisible Line: Three American Families and the Secret Journey from Black to White (Book)

J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize [link]
Date: 5/1/2012 12:00:00 AM
Organization: Columbia Journalism School & Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University [link]
Abstract: Established in 1998, the prizes recognize excellence in nonfiction that exemplify the literary grace and commitment to serious research and social concern that characterized the work of the awards’ Pulitzer Prize-winning namesake, J. Anthony Lukas, who died in 1997. The judges said of “The Invisible Line: Three American Families and the Secret Journey from Black to White” (Penguin Press) by Daniel J. Sharfstein, an associate professor of law at Vanderbilt University: “The book makes real the fact that, not so long ago, American citizens were forced into hiding their lineage and identity just to live free in this democracy, the perils and sense of loss, no matter which road they chose, and the price being paid even to this day by their descendents, and by extension, all of us.” Judges for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize were Jefferson Cowie, Ellen Fitzpatrick, Jeffrey Frank, and Isabel Wilkerson.

James Willard Hurst Prize [link]
Date: 6/6/2012 12:00:00 AM
Organization: Law and Society Association [link]
Abstract: The Hurst prize is given annually (biennially prior to 2002) by the Law and Society Association for the best work (in English) in sociolegal history published in the previous year. In the spirit of Willard Hurst's own work, the field of sociolegal history is broadly defined to include the history of interrelationships between law and social, economic, and political change; the history of functions and impact of legal agencies, legislative and administrative as well as judicial; the social history of the legal profession; and similar topics. The Association seeks studies in legal history that explore the relationship between law and society or illuminate the use, function, and cultural meaning of law and society. "By meticulously tracing generations of Americans for more than 150 years, Sharfstein stunningly documents the fluid nature of racial identity in the United States since the Civil War,” wrote the Prize Committee, which included Vicky Saker-Woeste of American Bar Found

Permalink: https://securegrants.neh.gov/publicquery/prizes.aspx?id=1057