Museum of African American History & the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation to Present MAAH Stone Book Award to Recognize Literary Works Celebrating African American History & Culture
Authors Thulani Davis, Kerri K. Greenidge, and Claude Johnson will receive a combined $70,000 in prizes during the October 19th award ceremony at the African Meeting House on MAAH’s Beacon Hill Campus.
October 12, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Media Contact
Sandi Goldfarb
BOSTON, MA (10/12/23) – Three respected authors whose vivid nonfiction works reveal the struggles and triumphs of Black Americans will be recognized on Thursday, October 19th during the 2023 Museum of African American History (MAAH) Stone Book Awards presentations. Established in 2018 to encourage the exploration of “exemplary contemporary scholarship and writing within the field of African American history and culture,” the annual event includes a $50,000 prize for the winner and $10,000 each for two finalists. The award ceremony will be held at 6:30 pm at the African Meeting House located at 46 Joy Street on MAAH’s Beacon Hill campus. This year’s award yielded 90 eligible entries submitted by noted publishers including Harper Collins, W.W. Norton, Penguin Random House and university presses from across the country.
The 2023 honorees are:
Thulani Davis, an award-winning playwright, journalist, librettist, novelist, poet, screenwriter, and scholar will receive the $50,000 top prize for her book The Emancipation Circuit: Black Activism Forging a Culture of Freedom. A recipient of numerous honors including the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers Award, a PEW Foundation National Theatre Artist Residency, and a Charles H. Revson Fellowship on the Future of New York City, Davis is an Assistant Professor in Afro-American Studies and a Nellie Y. McKay Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Kerri K. Greenidge is the Mellon Assistant Professor in the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora at Tufts University where she also co-directs the African American Trail and the Slavery, Colonialism, and Their Legacies Projects. She will be saluted for The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family. Greenidge is the recipient of numerous awards including the Peter J. Gomes Book Prize from the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Claude Johnson, an acclaimed historian and writer, is the author of The Black Fives: The Epic Story of Basketball’s Forgotten Era. As founder of the Black Fives Foundation, Johnson directs efforts to research, preserve, showcase, and teach the pre-NBA history of African American basketball while honoring its pioneers and their descendants. Earlier in his career, Johnson held senior management and executive positions at IBM, American Express, NBA Properties, Nike, Phat Farm, and Benetton Sportsystem.
“The Stone Foundation is proud to partner with the Museum to honor these remarkable chroniclers of African American history, culture and traditions,” said Cathy Stone, President, James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation. “We congratulate this year’s winners, Thulani Davis, Kerri Greenidge, and Claude Johnson, and offer our deepest thanks to the jurors. We invite everyone to join us on October 19th as we celebrate exceptional writing and reflect on the power found in illuminating and bearing witness to our shared past.”
The evening will feature remarks by this year's winning authors and several members of the award’s distinguished panel of jurors: Dr. Dana A. Williams, Professor of African American Literature and Interim Dean of the Graduate School at Howard University; Dr. William Sturkey, an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania; Dr. Courtney R. Baker, Associate Professor of English at University of California, Riverside; , Dr. Charles McKinney, Neville Frierson Bryan Chair of Africana Studies and Associate Professor of History; and Dr. Jesse McCarthy, Assistant Professor in the departments of English and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Journalist Callie Crossley of GBH Radio and Television will host a conversation with Thulani Davis and a Q&A session with the audience.
According to MAAH’s President and CEO, Dr. Noelle Trent, the winning books must reflect MAAH’s mission, vision, and core values. They are judged on their scholarship, accessibility, and their ability to spark dialogue within and across social and racial groups.
“The Museum of African American History Stone Book Award is a natural extension of our efforts to foster community connections and share the powerful stories of the African American experience,” said Trent. “We see our properties in Boston and Nantucket as more than welcoming historic destinations, they are vital resources and gathering places where people can come together to learn, exchange ideas, and engage in important conversations.”
The MAAH Stone Book Award program is free and open to the public, with advanced registration required. For additional information and to register please visit maahstonebookaward.org.
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ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, BOSTON & NANTUCKET
A not-for-profit institution designated a Boston African American Historic Site by the National Park Service, the Museum of African American History (MAAH) began holding exhibitions and public gatherings in 1963. It is nationally and internationally known for its collection of historic sites on Joy Street in Boston and York Street on Nantucket. These locations anchor the Museum to Black Heritage Trails® in Boston and Nantucket and span the Colonial Period through Reconstruction. MAAH and its portfolio of properties are closely linked to historical leaders, institutions, campaigns and events during the 18th and 19th centuries, such as the Massachusetts General Colored Association which was established in 1826 to combat slavery and racism, the New England Antislavery Society founded in 1832 and led by William Lloyd Garrison, and the voyages of the African American whaling caption, Absalom Boston. Home to four original African American buildings constructed between 1774 and 1835, MAAH sites include two African Meeting Houses, the Abiel Smith School, and the Seneca Boston-Florence Higginbotham House. Through programs, curricula, tours, and exhibits the museum illuminates, interprets, and preserves the birthplace of the abolitionist movement and the continuing struggle for human rights.