The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards recognize works that make important contributions to our understanding of racism and cultural diversity. The awards, now in their 81st year, are presented by the Cleveland Foundation. Winners each receive a $10,000 prize.
The prize jury is headed by Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. This year’s Anisfield-Wolf awards will be presented at the Ohio Theatre in Cleveland on September 15.
Orlando Patterson, the John Cowles Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, has been selected to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. The award committee stated that Professor Patterson is a preeminent sociologist whose books have influenced the course of global scholarship. His latest book is The Cultural Matrix: Understanding Black Youth (Harvard University Press, 2015).
Dr. Patterson is a native of Jamaica. After studying at the University of the West Indies, he earned a Ph.D. in sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has served on the Harvard University faculty since 1969.
