Leon F. Litwack
Encyclopedia
Leon F. Litwack is an American
historian and Professor of American History Emeritus at the University of California Berkeley, where he received the Golden Apple Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2007. He has received the Pulitzer Prize
in History
for his book Been In the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery.; he is the winner of the 1980 Francis Parkman Prize
and the 1981 National Book Award
http://www.nationalbook.org/nba_winners_finalist_50_07.pdf. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Humanities Film Grant. Litwack retired to emeritus status at the end of the Spring 2007 semester, went on a lecture tour that resulted in his most recent work, How Free Is Free?: The Long Death of Jim Crow (The Nathan I. Huggins
Lectures) published in February 2009.
in 1929, and received his B.A. in 1951 and Ph.D. in 1958 from the University of California, Berkeley
. He has taught at the Universities of Wisconsin and South Carolina and at Colorado College.
Litwack's interest in history was sparked by The Growth of the American Republic, by Samuel Eliot Morison
and Henry Steele Commager
.
Litwack said, "The textbook was my first confrontation with history. I asked my 11th grade teacher for the opportunity to respond to the textbook’s version of Reconstruction, to what I thought were distortions and racial biases. (I had already read Howard Fast
’s Freedom Road.) The research led me to the library—and to W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction, with that intriguing subtitle: An Essay Toward a History of the Part which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860–1880. Armed with that book, I presented what I thought to be a persuasive rebuttal of the textbook."
Historian Michael Les Benedict
wrote that, in 1961, "Leon Litwack showed how the federal government's pervasive support for slavery led to shameful treatment of free African Americans." Benedict was referring to pages 30–63 of chapter 2, titled "The Federal Government and the Free Negro" in Litwack's book, North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790-1860.
From 1964 to 2007, Litwack taught at the University of California in Berkeley, where he instructed more than 30,000 students. For much of that time, he taught the introductory course in post-Civil War American History, and was the Alexander F. and May T. Morrison Professor of American History. Litwack gave his final lecture as a professor, "Fight the Power," on Monday, May 7, 2007 in Wheeler Auditorium.
He was elected to the presidency of the Organization of American Historians
. An enormously popular and influential teacher, Litwack was profiled in Newsweek's 2006 edition of the "Giving Back Awards," having been nominated by one of his former students. He has received two distinguished teaching awards. Litwack was presented with the Golden Apple Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2007 by the ASUC at the University of California, Berkeley.
With a National Endowment for the Humanities Film Grant, he produced To Look for America in 1971. Litwack followed up his groundbreaking book on Reconstruction, Been in the Storm So Long, with Trouble in Mind, which continued his investigation of race relations into the early-20th Century. Litwack's sequel to Trouble in Mind is titled How Free Is Free?: The Long Death of Jim Crow (The Nathan I. Huggins Lectures) and focuses on black southerners and race relations from the 1930s to 1955.
A distinguished lecturer with the Organization of American Historians
, Litwack lectures on these topics:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historian and Professor of American History Emeritus at the University of California Berkeley, where he received the Golden Apple Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2007. He has received the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
in History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
for his book Been In the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery.; he is the winner of the 1980 Francis Parkman Prize
Francis Parkman Prize
The Francis Parkman Prize, named after Francis Parkman, is awarded by the Society of American Historians for the best book in American history each year. Its purpose is to promote literary distinction in historical writing...
and the 1981 National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
http://www.nationalbook.org/nba_winners_finalist_50_07.pdf. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Humanities Film Grant. Litwack retired to emeritus status at the end of the Spring 2007 semester, went on a lecture tour that resulted in his most recent work, How Free Is Free?: The Long Death of Jim Crow (The Nathan I. Huggins
Nathan Huggins
Nathan Irvin Huggins a distinguished American historian, author and educator. As a leading scholar in the field of African-American studies, he was W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of History and of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University as well as director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for...
Lectures) published in February 2009.
Biography
Litwack was born in Santa Barbara, CaliforniaSanta Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
in 1929, and received his B.A. in 1951 and Ph.D. in 1958 from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. He has taught at the Universities of Wisconsin and South Carolina and at Colorado College.
Litwack's interest in history was sparked by The Growth of the American Republic, by Samuel Eliot Morison
Samuel Eliot Morison
Samuel Eliot Morison, Rear Admiral, United States Naval Reserve was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history that were both authoritative and highly readable. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and taught history at the university for 40 years...
and Henry Steele Commager
Henry Steele Commager
Henry Steele Commager was an American historian who helped define Modern liberalism in the United States for two generations through his forty books and 700 essays and reviews...
.
Litwack said, "The textbook was my first confrontation with history. I asked my 11th grade teacher for the opportunity to respond to the textbook’s version of Reconstruction, to what I thought were distortions and racial biases. (I had already read Howard Fast
Howard Fast
Howard Melvin Fast was an American novelist and television writer. Fast also wrote under the pen names E. V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson.-Early life:Fast was born in New York City...
’s Freedom Road.) The research led me to the library—and to W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction, with that intriguing subtitle: An Essay Toward a History of the Part which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860–1880. Armed with that book, I presented what I thought to be a persuasive rebuttal of the textbook."
Historian Michael Les Benedict
Michael Les Benedict
Michael Les Benedict is a prominent American historian, who taught at Ohio State University from 1970 until his retirement in 2005. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Illinois and his PhD from Rice University. His expertise is principally in constitutional and legal...
wrote that, in 1961, "Leon Litwack showed how the federal government's pervasive support for slavery led to shameful treatment of free African Americans." Benedict was referring to pages 30–63 of chapter 2, titled "The Federal Government and the Free Negro" in Litwack's book, North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790-1860.
From 1964 to 2007, Litwack taught at the University of California in Berkeley, where he instructed more than 30,000 students. For much of that time, he taught the introductory course in post-Civil War American History, and was the Alexander F. and May T. Morrison Professor of American History. Litwack gave his final lecture as a professor, "Fight the Power," on Monday, May 7, 2007 in Wheeler Auditorium.
He was elected to the presidency of the Organization of American Historians
Organization of American Historians
The Organization of American Historians , formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S...
. An enormously popular and influential teacher, Litwack was profiled in Newsweek's 2006 edition of the "Giving Back Awards," having been nominated by one of his former students. He has received two distinguished teaching awards. Litwack was presented with the Golden Apple Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2007 by the ASUC at the University of California, Berkeley.
With a National Endowment for the Humanities Film Grant, he produced To Look for America in 1971. Litwack followed up his groundbreaking book on Reconstruction, Been in the Storm So Long, with Trouble in Mind, which continued his investigation of race relations into the early-20th Century. Litwack's sequel to Trouble in Mind is titled How Free Is Free?: The Long Death of Jim Crow (The Nathan I. Huggins Lectures) and focuses on black southerners and race relations from the 1930s to 1955.
A distinguished lecturer with the Organization of American Historians
Organization of American Historians
The Organization of American Historians , formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S...
, Litwack lectures on these topics:
- Pearl Harbor Blues: Black Americans and World War II
- Trouble in Mind: African Americans and Race Reflections from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement
- On Becoming a Historian
- To Look for America: From Hiroshima to Woodstock (an impressionistic multi-media examination of American society, with an introductory lecture on American society after 1945)
- Fight the Power: Black Americans and Race Relations after the Civil Rights Movement
Books by Leon F. Litwack (partial listing)
- How Free Is Free?: The Long Death of Jim Crow (The Nathan I. Huggins Lectures) (Harvard University Press, 2009) ISBN 978-0674031524
- Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery. (1979) Winner of the 1981 National Book AwardNational Book AwardThe National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
for history and the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for HistoryPulitzer Prize for HistoryThe Pulitzer Prize for History has been awarded since 1917 for a distinguished book upon the history of the United States. Many history books have also been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography...
. - North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790-1860 (University of Chicago Press: 1961)
- Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America edited by Hilton Als, Jon Lewis, Leon F. Litwack and James Allen. (Twin Palms Publishers: 2000) ISBN 0-944092-69-1
- The Harvard Guide to African-American History by Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Darlene Clark Hine and Leon F. Litwack (editors) (Harvard Univ Press: 2001) ISBN 0-674-00276-8 Compiles information and interpretations on the past 500 years of African American history, containing essays on historical research aids, bibliographies, resources for women's issues, and an accompanying CD-ROM providing bibliographical entries.
- Trouble In Mind: Black Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow (Alfred A. Knopf: 1998)
- The American Labor Movement by Leon Litwack, 1962 ISBN 0-671-62827-5
Interview with Leon F. Litwack
Quotes
"So what else is there to say but that everything has changed and nothing has changed. And Fight the Power. And 'Go Bears!' "- May 7, 2007 to close his final lecture.Sources
- SFGate.com - Profile: Leon Litwack (includes photo)