Tikkun Olam Prize Recipients
The Tikkun Olam Prize for Promoting Public Historical Literacy honors individuals whose work has promoted literacy in public culture, with the abiding hope that such work will indeed help "to repair the world."
2023
Marvin Dunn, Florida International Univ.
2023 Tikkun Olam Prize
Marvin Dunn, Florida International University
What most distinguishes Marvin Dunn’s contribution to historical literacy has been how he has grounded his response to recent racial violence in the long histories of racism in Florida, especially by preserving the memory of the Rosewood Massacre of 1923. The now lost town of Rosewood suffered a week of white mob violence that killed at least 100 people and wiped the prosperous Black community off the map. Dunn purchased five acres of land in Rosewood more than a decade ago to preserve the memory of the town’s racist-fueled destruction and now leads Teach the Truth tours on the property. His presence on the site provoked a white neighbor to attempt to run down Dunn and others with his pickup truck.