Isabel Wilkerson Is the Inaugural Winner of the $100,000 NYU/Axinn Foundation Prize

Isabel Wilkerson, an award-winning journalist, author, and educator, is the recipient of the inaugural NYU/Axinn Foundation Prize, which recognizes distinguished work in literary narrative nonfiction. The honor includes a cash award of $100,000. The prize is administered by the Graduate School of Arts and Science at New York University and funded by the Axinn Foundation. Donald Axinn was the founder and chairman of the Donald E. Axinn Companies, an investment firm and developer of office and industrial parks throughout the New York metropolitan area. He was the author of three novels and 11 books of poetry.

“The purpose of the award is to foster an excellent and influential writer’s continuing contributions to literature and culture,” says Susan Antón, interim dean of NYU’s Graduate School of Arts and Science. “The idea is to encourage ongoing work by writers of important literary narrative nonfiction — to promote books that demonstrate originality of vision and depth of research, books that seek to deepen our understanding of the human condition and are of broad interest and appeal.”

Wilkerson was honored for her book The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration (Random House, 2010). The book chronicles the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to other parts of the United States over the course of the twentieth century. Wilkerson’s latest book is Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (Random House. 2020).

A graduate of Howard University, Professor Wilkerson has taught at Emory University, Princeton University, Boston University, and Northwestern University. She won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1994, as Chicago Bureau Chief of The New York Times. She was the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism.

 

Related Articles

2 COMMENTS

  1. Kudos to Ms. Wilkerson. However, I must admit that I so sick of tired of seeing all of these talent so-called Black Americans willignly giving all of their intellectual and creative talents to PWIs when HBCUs are always in need to such talents. It’s a sad state of Black affairs when countless talented so-called Black Americans are more satifised building up the proverbial White organizations. Talk about a self-inflicted wound.

  2. Michael, you are absolutely correct. However, HBCUs must also step up to the plate and provide the financial resources necessary to recruit talented faculty members. HBCUs need more endowed faculty positions and chairmanship so we can compete, salary-wise, with PWIs for the most talented professors and academic leaders. a

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

Huston-Tilloston University to Establish Two Satellite Campus in California

Huston-Tilloston University, a historically Black educational institution in Austin, Texas, has announced plans to launch two new satellite campuses in California. The university has already received approval to begin offering online courses to California students in January.

Two Black Scholars Selected for Endowed Professorships at Ivy League Universities

The two Black scholars appointed to endowed faculty positions at Ivy League schools are Vaughn Booker at the University of Pennsylvania and Dorceta Taylor at Yale University.

Sanofi Grants $18 Million to Three Historically Black Medical Schools to Increase Diversity in Clinical Studies

Thanks to an $18 million investment from Sanofi, Meharry Medical College, Howard University, and Morehouse School of Medicine plan to expand their clinical research staff, pharmacy infrastructure, and training programs.

Kemeshia Swanson Receives 2024 Eudora Welty Book Prize

Dr. Swanson, an assistant professor at Mississippi State University, has been recognized for her new book, Maverick Feminist: To Be Female and Black in a Country Founded Upon Violence and Respectability.

Featured Jobs