At its annual meeting in April, the Organization of American Historians awarded the James A. Rawley Prize ("given annually for a book dealing with race relations in the United States") to Sarah L. H. Gronningsater (University of Pennsylvania) for The Rising Generation: Gradual Abolition, Black Legal Culture, and the Making of National Freedom (University of Pennsylvania Press). The citation:
Sarah L. H. Gronningsater beautifully reframes our understanding of gradual abolition and the long period of emancipation in this extraordinary book. The Rising Generation explores gradualism as Black New Yorkers understood it—as a story of a generation of children who were born into the seemingly liminal status of servitude but whose newfound access to schools, philanthropic associations, courts, and voting had ripple effects for their communities. Black New Yorkers recognized that the children of gradual abolition would bear particular responsibility in shaping opportunities for all African Americans in the
state. As Gronningsater brilliantly shows, having spent their lifetimes promoting emancipation, voting rights, and citizenship at the state level, the children of gradual abolition would eventually become leaders in crafting the legal protections of Reconstruction era. The children of gradual abolition transformed a struggle for freedom that first played out in the household into a broader fight for political power as citizens. Behind each of these questions about legal and political rights is a stunningly researched and deeply textured look at the way that mothers, fathers, teachers, and communities navigated the new reality of gradual abolition to protect their children.
The Rising Generation also received an Honorable Mention for the OAH's Frederick Jackson Turner Award ("given annually to the author of a first scholarly book dealing with some aspect of American history").
Congratulations to Professor Gronningsater!
-- Karen Tani
