Wesley-Logan Prize
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. See the list of past recipients.
The general rules for submission are:
- 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. Only books of high scholarly and literary merit will be considered.
- Books with a copyright of 2019 are eligible for the 2020 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: Given the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 crisis, we are adjusting the submission process for AHA Book Prizes:
- Nominators must complete the online prize submission form by MAY 15.
- When possible, nominators are also encouraged to send hard copies (or e-books, if hard copies are unavailable) by the May 15 deadline to provide prize committees with ample time to review submissions.
- However, we are extending the deadline to receive hard copies of books by JUNE 15.
Entries will not be returned. Recipients will be announced on the AHA website in October 2020 and recognized during a ceremony at the January 2021 AHA annual meeting in Seattle.
For questions, please contact the Prize Administrator.
The online submission form deadline has now passed, and we are no longer accepting nominations. Only books submitted through the form prior to May 15 will be considered for 2020 prizes. Hard copies of nominations submitted through the online form prior to May 15 can be received by prize judges until June 15, 2020.
Contact Information for Committee Members
Send one copy to each committee member and complete the prize submission form (above).
| LaShawn Harris Michigan State Univ. Dept. of History 256 Old Horticulture 506 E. Circle Dr. East Lansing, MI 48824 harri859@msu.edu |
Randal Jelks Univ. of Kansas Dept. of American Studies Bailey Hall 213 1440 Jayhawk Blvd. Lawrence, KS 66045-7574 rmjelks@ku.edu |
Rashauna Johnson Dartmouth Coll. Dept. of History 6107 Carson Hall Hanover, NH 03755 rashauna.johnson@dartmouth.edu Ebook Preferred |
| Michelle McKinley Univ. of Oregon School of Law 306C Knight Law Center Eugene, OR 97401-1221 michelle@uoregon.edu |
Quincy Mills qtmills@umd.edu Contact for Postal Address |
2019 Wesley-Logan Prize
Yuko Miki, Fordham Univ.
Frontiers of Citizenship: A Black and Indigenous History of Postcolonial Brazil (Cambridge Univ. Press)
This brilliant, original, and deeply archival book shows how “the exclusion and inequality of indigenous and African-descended people became embedded in the very construction of an inclusive nationhood and citizenship” in postcolonial Brazil. A work of African diaspora, comparative indigenous, and borderland studies, it illuminates the origins of “racial democracy” and proffers a cutting-edge, transnational framework for appreciating race, citizenship, national identity, slavery, abolition, popular culture, and the meaning of freedom in postcolonial Latin America.