News and Views; Eight Guggenheim Fellowship Awards to Black Academics

The Guggenheim fellowship is one of America's most prestigious awards. The annual grants go to artists, scholars, and scientists on the basis of distinguished accomplishments as well as for demonstrated potential for exceptional achievement in future endeavors. Performing artists are not eligib...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Journal of blacks in higher education 2003-07 (40), p.64
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Academic Achievement African American literature African Americans American literature Artists Awards Black culture Black people Black Studies Brooks, Gwendolyn (1917-2000) Colleges & universities Computer Assisted Instruction Culture Education Fellowships Grants Higher education Hurston, Zora Neale (1891-1960) Masters Degrees Minority & ethnic groups Music Sons Still, William Grant (1895-1978)
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	The Guggenheim fellowship is one of America's most prestigious awards. The annual grants go to artists, scholars, and scientists on the basis of distinguished accomplishments as well as for demonstrated potential for exceptional achievement in future endeavors. Performing artists are not eligible for Guggenheim fellowships. Those eligible apply for a fellowship award and the decision is made by a group of former fellows appointed by the foundation. In the first half of the twentieth century most American foundations never considered blacks as being eligible candidates for fellowship awards. But gifted blacks routinely received Guggenheim awards. For example, composer William Grant Still won three Guggenheim fellowships in the 1930s. Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes were also winners of Guggenheim awards in the 1930s. According to the foundation's records, Hurston's fellowship in 1936 was awarded to her for "the gathering of material for books on authentic Negro folk-life, in particular the study of magic practices among Negroes in the West Indies." Artist Jacob Lawrence, poet Gwendolyn Brooks, and author Arnaud Bontemps won Guggenheim fellowships in the 1940s. The Guggenheim Foundation does not publish statistics on the race of the recipients of its awards. Yet JBHE has determined that at least 12 of this year's 184 awards went to blacks. Of these 12 individuals, eight have academic affiliations. Here is a brief look at the eight black academics who were awarded Guggenheim fellowships this year.
ISSN:	1077-3711 2326-6023