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David W. Blight

デイヴィッド・ダブリュー・ブライト

David W. Blight

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1949-03-21 （Flint, Michigan, USA）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Flint, Michigan, USA (childhood) → Amherst, Massachusetts, USA (teaching) → New Haven, Connecticut, USA (Yale University)

Career

Occupations
Historian, Professor, Author
Active Years
1971-
Affiliations
North Central College (faculty), Harvard University (faculty), Amherst College (faculty), Yale University (faculty; Director, Gilder Lehrman Center)
Memberships
American Philosophical Society (elected 2021), Society of American Historians (former president)
Influenced By
Frederick Douglass (subject of study/influence), Eric Foner (influence in American history scholarship)

Education

Michigan State University
History
Degree: BA
Period: 1967–1971
Year of Graduation: 1971
Country: United States
Bachelor of Arts in History. Played on the Michigan State Spartans baseball team.
Michigan State University
History
Degree: MA
Period: 1971–1976
Year of Graduation: 1976
Country: United States
Master of Arts in American History.
University of Wisconsin–Madison
History
Degree: PhD
Period: 1976–1985
Year of Graduation: 1985
Country: United States
PhD in American History. Dissertation: Keeping Faith in Jubilee: Frederick Douglass and the Meaning of the Civil War.

Awards

Frederick Douglass Prize
2001
Work: Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory
Organization: Frederick Douglass Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Bancroft Prize
2002
Work: Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory
Organization: Columbia University Bancroft Prize Committee
Result: 受賞（共同受賞あり）
Lincoln Prize
2002
Work: Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory
Organization: Gilder Lehrman Institute (Lincoln Prize)
Result: 受賞
Connecticut Book Prize
2008
Work: A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including Their Own Narratives of Emancipation
Organization: Connecticut Center for the Book
Result: 受賞
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
2012
Work: American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era
Organization: Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Committee
Result: 受賞
Lincoln Prize
2019
Work: Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
Organization: Gilder Lehrman Institute (Lincoln Prize)
Result: 受賞
Pulitzer Prize for History
2019
Work: Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award
2019
Work: Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
Organization: PEN Oakland
Result: 受賞
American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in History
2020
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Letters
Result: 受賞
Golden Plate Award
2022
Organization: American Academy of Achievement
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Frederick Douglass' Civil War: Keeping Faith in Jubilee

1989 History (biography / memory of war)

Study of Frederick Douglass and Civil War memory, examining Douglass's wartime experience and its significance.

SlaveryMemory studiesFrederick Douglass

Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory

2001 History (memory studies)

Analyzes how American society remembered the Civil War and how, in the interest of reunification, racial issues were marginalized.

Memory and forgettingReunificationRace relations

A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including Their Own Narratives of Emancipation

2007 History (primary sources / edited narratives)

Presents newly discovered first-person accounts of two escaped slaves, illuminating individual experiences of emancipation.

Personal slave historiesEmancipationPrimary sources

American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era

2011 History (connections to the Civil Rights Era)

Examines how Civil War memory influenced the Civil Rights Era and related debates in the 1960s.

Memory studiesCivil Rights MovementPolitics of history

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

2018 Biography / History

A major modern biography of Frederick Douglass, drawing on extensive sources to portray his life and thought.

BiographySlavery and emancipationCivil rights

Yale and Slavery: A History

2024 History (university history / slavery studies)

Investigates Yale University's historical connections to slavery based on archival research.

University historySlaveryArchival research

Bibliography

  • Frederick Douglass' Civil War: Keeping Faith in Jubilee (1989)
  • Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (2001)
  • Beyond the Battlefield: Race, Memory, and the American Civil War (2002)
  • A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom (2007)
  • American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era (2011)
  • Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom (2018)
  • Yale and Slavery: A History (2024)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Scholarly, narrative historical criticismExtensive use of primary sources
Recurring Motifs
Politics of memory and historyIndividual narratives of slavery and emancipationBiographical focus on Frederick Douglass

Legacy

Renowned historian of Civil War memory and slavery studies. Considered a leading authority on Frederick Douglass with broad recognition and major awards.

Academic Societies

  • American Philosophical Society
  • Society of American Historians

Archives

  • Gilder Lehrman Center at Yale University (related materials)

In Popular Culture

  • Open Yale Courses lecture series (The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845–1877) and appearances on C-SPAN

Quotes

  • We must try to seek a new unified American story.
    Source: Essay in Our American Story (contribution), 2019 (2019)

Trivia

  • Played baseball for Michigan State University.
  • Grew up in a mobile home park in Flint, Michigan.
  • Recorded a 27-lecture Open Yale Courses series in 2008.