Wesley-Logan Prize
The submission deadline has passed. Awardees are announced in the fall, and the next contest will begin in spring 2023.
The Wesley-Logan Prize in African diaspora history is jointly sponsored by the American Historical Association and the Association for the Study of African American Life & History. The prize is awarded annually for an outstanding book in African diaspora history. The AHA Committee on Minority Historians established the prize in 1992 in memory of two early pioneers in the field, Charles H. Wesley and Rayford W. Logan.
The prize is offered for a book on some aspect of the history of the dispersion, settlement and adjustment, and/or return of peoples originally from Africa. Eligible for consideration are books in any chronological period and any geographical location. The current prize amount is $1,000. See the list of past recipients.
The general rules for submission are:
- Only books of high scholarly and literary merit will be considered.
- Books with a copyright of 2022 are eligible for the 2023 award.
- Nomination submissions may be made by an author or by a publisher. Publishers may submit as many entries as they wish. Authors or publishers may submit the same book for multiple AHA prizes.
- Nominators must complete an online prize submission form for each book submitted.
- One copy of each entry must be sent to each committee member and clearly labeled “Wesley-Logan Prize Entry.” Print copies preferred unless otherwise indicated. If only e-copy is available, please contact review committee members beforehand to arrange submission format.
Please Note: Entries must be received by May 15, 2023, to be eligible for the 2023 competition. Entries will not be returned. Recipients will be announced on the AHA website in October 2023 and recognized during a ceremony at the January 2024 AHA annual meeting in San Francisco.
For questions, please contact the Prize Administrator.
2021 Wesley-Logan Prize
Jessica Marie Johnson, Johns Hopkins University
Wicked Flesh: Black Women, Intimacy, and Freedom in the Atlantic World (Univ. of Pennsylvania Press)
Wicked Flesh is a beautifully rendered study of slavery, kinship, and intimacy across the Black Atlantic. Jessica Marie Johnson moves us from the west coast of Africa to the Americas, using life histories that deeply engage Diaspora studies and Black feminist theory. Wicked Flesh shows how Black women used kinship to challenge and reshape the terms of their enslavement and chart new territories of freedom.