John Lewis Award for History Recipients
The John Lewis Award for History and Social Justice is offered annually to recognize a historian for leadership and sustained engagement at the intersection of historical work and social justice.
2023
Joe William Trotter, Carnegie Mellon Univ.
2022
Trinidad Gonzales, South Texas Coll.
2021
Mary Frances Berry, Univ. of Pennsylvania
2023 Lewis Award for History and Social Justice
Joe William Trotter, Carnegie Mellon University
Joe William Trotter’s record as a leader and institution builder engaged in the work of civil rights and social justice stretches back over 50 years to his days as an undergraduate student at Carthage College, when he served as a founding member and president of the Afro-American Society at this small, overwhelmingly white, Lutheran college south of Milwaukee. He has continued to be an exemplary leader since then. Since 1995, Trotter has served as the director of the Center for African American Urban Studies and the Economy (CAUSE) at Carnegie Mellon University. This center has served as the launching point for important community-based research, activities, and projects designed to enhance connections between the university and the wider community. The public lectures, teacher workshops, community archiving projects, and mentorship available to junior scholars through CAUSE are evidence of the powerful ways bold and rigorous scholarship can stand in service to civil rights and community groups and activists.