Past Prize Winners

2021 Prize Winners

SHEAR Book Prize for 2021

The 2021 SHEAR Book Prize went to Peter Wirzbicki, in recognition of his book entitled Fighting for the Higher Law: Black and White Transcendentalists against Slavery (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021). Peter Wirzbicki is Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University.

James H. Broussard First Book Prize for 2021

The 2021 James Broussard Best First Book Prize went to Vanessa M. Holden, in recognition of her book entitled Surviving Southampton: African American Women and Resistance in Nat Turner’s Community (University of Illinois Press, 2021). Vanessa M. Holden is an assistant professor of history at the University of Kentucky.

James Bradford Biography Prize for 2021

The 2021 James Bradford Biography Prize went to Carolyn Eastman, in recognition of her book entitled The Strange Genius of Mr. O: The World of the United States’ First Forgotten Celebrity (OIEAHC/ UNC Press, 2021). Carolyn Eastman is Associate Professor of History at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Mary Kelley Prize for 2021

The 2021 Mary Kelley Prize went to Tamika Y. Nunley, in recognition of her book entitled At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities in Washington, D.C. (UNC Press, 2021). Tamika Y. Nunley is associate professor of history at Cornell University.

Article Prize 2021:

The 2021 Ralph D. Gray Article Prize went to Ann Marsh Daly in recognition of her 2021 Journal of the Early Republic article entitled “‛Every Dollar Brought from the Earth’: Money, Slavery, and Southern Gold Mining.” Ann Marsh Daly is an Assistant Professor of History at the Mississippi State University.

SHEAR Dissertation Prize for 2021

The SHEAR Manuscript Prize went to Cory James Young in recognition of his 2021 Georgetown University dissertation titled, “For Life or Otherwise: Abolition and Slavery in South Central Pennsylvania, 1780-1847.” Cory James Young is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

2020 Prize Winners

SHEAR Book Prize for 2020

The 2020 SHEAR Book Prize went to William G. Thomas III, in recognition of his book entitled A Question of Freedom: The Families Who Challenged Slavery from the Nation’s Founding to the Civil War (Yale University Press, 2020). William G. Thomas III is the John and Catherine Angle Chair in the Humanities and Professor of History at the University of Nebraska.

James H. Broussard First Book Prize for 2020

The 2020 James Broussard Best First Book Prize went to Christopher James Bonner, in recognition of his book entitled Remaking the Republic: Black Politics and the Creation of American Citizenship (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020). Christopher James Bonner is an Associate Professor of the History at the University of Maryland.

James Bradford Biography Prize for 2020

The 2020 James Bradford Biography Prize went to Lorri Glover, in recognition of her book entitled Eliza Lucas Pinckney: An Independent Woman in the Age of Revolution (Yale University Press, 2020). Lorri Glover is the John Francis Bannon Endowed Chair in the Department of History at Saint Louis University.

Mary Kelley Prize for 2020

The 2020 Mary Kelley Prize went to Katie Hemphill, in recognition of her book entitled Bawdy City: Commercial Sex and Regulation in Baltimore, 1790-1915 (Cambridge University Press, 2019). Katie Hemphill is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Arizona.

Article Prize 2020:

The 2020 Ralph D. Gray Article Prize went to Emily J. Arendt in recognition of her 2020 Journal of the Early Republic article entitled “‛Two Dollars a Day, And Roast Beef’: Whig Culinary Partisanship and the Election of 1840.” Emily J. Arendt is an Assistant Professor of History at the Montana State University Billings.

SHEAR Dissertation Prize for 2020

The SHEAR Manuscript Prize went to Elaine Lafay in recognition of her 2019 University of Pennsylvania History and Sociology of Science dissertation entitled, “Afflictions of the Tropics’ Brink: Medicine, Meteorology, and the Cultivation of Place in the Antebellum Gulf South. Elaine Lafay is an Assistant Professor of History at Rutgers University.

2019 Prize Winners

SHEAR Book Prize for 2019

The 2019 SHEAR Book Prize went to Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers, in recognition of her book
entitled They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South (Yale University Press, 2019). Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers is associate professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley.

James H. Broussard First Book Prize for 2019

The 2019 James Broussard Best First Book Prize went to Kellie Carter Jackson, in recognition of her book entitled Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019). Kellie Carter Jackson is the Knafel Assistant Professor of the Humanities at Wellesley College.

James Bradford Biography Prize for 2019

The 2019 James Bradford Biography Prize went to Mary V. Thompson, in recognition of her book entitled “The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret”: George Washington, Slavery, and the Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon (University of North Carolina Press, 2018). Mary V. Thompson is Research Historian at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

Mary Kelley Prize for 2019

The 2018 Mary Kelley Prize went to Kabria Baumgartner, in recognition of her book entitled In Pursuit of Knowledge: Black Women’s Educational Activism in Antebellum America (University of North Carolina Press, 2019). Kabria Baumgartner is Assistant Professor of American studies
at the University of New Hampshire.

Article Prize 2019:

The 2019 Ralph D. Gray Article Prize went to Robert Murray in recognition of his 2019 Journal of the Early Republic article entitled “Bodies in Motion: Liberian Settlers, Medicine, and Mobility in the Atlantic World.” Robert Murray is an Assistant Professor of History at the Mercy College.

SHEAR Dissertation Prize for 2019

The SHEAR Manuscript Prize went to Julia Lewandoski in recognition of her 2019 University of California dissertation entitled “Small Victories: Indigenous Proprietors Across Empires in North America, 1763-1891.” Julia Lewandoski is a Postdoctoral Fellow, Humanities in a Digital World Program, University of Southern California.

2018 Prize Winners

SHEAR Book Prize for 2018

The 2018 SHEAR Book Prize went to Christopher Grasso, in recognition of his book entitled Skepticism and American Faith from the Revolution to the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2018). Christopher Grasso is professor of history at William & Mary.

James H. Broussard First Book Prize for 2018

The 2018 James Broussard Best First Book Prize went to Kimberly Welch, in recognition of her book entitled Black Litigants in the Antebellum American South (University of North Carolina Press, 2018). Kimberly Welch is an Assistant Professor of History Vanderbilt University.

James Bradford Biography Prize for 2018

The 2018 James Bradford Biography Prize went to Nancy Hewitt, in recognition of her book entitled Radical Friend: Amy Kirby Post and her Activist Worlds (University of North Carolina Press, 2018). Nancy Hewitt is Distinguished Professor Emerita of History and Women’s Studies at Rutgers University.

Mary Kelley Prize for 2018

The 2018 Mary Kelley Prize went to Nora Doyle, in recognition of her book entitled Maternal Bodies: Redefining Motherhood in Early America (University of North Carolina Press, 2018). Nora Doyle is an Assistant Professor of History at Salem College.

Article Prize 2018:

The 2018 Ralph D. Gray Article Prize went to Michael Witgen in recognition of his 2018 Journal of the Early Republic article entitled “Seeing Red: Race, Citizenship, and Indigeneity in the Old Northwest.” Michael Witgen is an Assistant Professor of History and the Program in American Culture at the University of Michigan.

SHEAR Dissertation Prize for 2018

The SHEAR Manuscript Prize went to Jordan B. Smith in recognition of his 2018 Georgetown University dissertation entitled “The Invention of Rum.” Jordan B. Smith is an Assistant Professor of History at Widener University.

2017 Prize Winners

SHEAR Book Prize for 2017

The 2017 SHEAR Book Prize went to Daina Ramey Berry, in recognition of her book entitled The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation (Beacon Press, 2017). Daina Ramey Berry is an Associate Professor of History and African and African Diaspora Studies and the Oliver H. Radkey Regents Fellow in History at the University of Texas at Austin.

James H. Broussard First Book Prize for 2017

The 2017 James Broussard Best First Book Prize went to Kenneth Cohen, in recognition of his book entitled They Will Have Their Game: Sporting Culture and the Making of the Early American Republic (Cornell University Press, 2017). Kenneth Cohen is a Curator of American Culture, Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

James Bradford Biography Prize for 2017

The 2017 James Bradford Biography Prize went to Tiya Miles, in recognition of her book entitled The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits (The New Press, 2017). Tiya Miles is Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard University.

The Mary Kelley Prize in the History of Women, Gender, and Sexuality for 2017

The 2017 Mary Kelley Prize went to Leigh Fought, in recognition of her book entitled Women in the World of Frederick Douglass (Oxford University Press, 2017). Leigh Fought is an Assistant Professor of History at LeMoyne College.

Article Prize 2017:

The 2017 Ralph D. Gray Article Prize went to Tyson Reeder in recognition of his 2017 Journal of the Early Republic article entitled “Liberty with the Sword: Jamaican Maroons, Haitian Revolutionaries, and American Liberty.” Tyson Reeder is an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia/Assistant Editor of the Papers of James Madison.

SHEAR Dissertation Prize for 2017

The SHEAR Manuscript Prize went to Nora Slonimsky in recognition of her 2017 CUNY dissertation entitled “‘The Engine Of Free Expression’: The Political Economy Of Copyright In The Colonial British Atlantic And Early National United States.” Nora Slonimsky is Gardiner Assistant Professor of History, Iona College and the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies

2016 Prize Winners

2016 SHEAR Book Prize

The 2016 SHEAR Book Prize went to Manisha Sinha, in recognition of her book entitled The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition (Yale University Press, 2016). Manisha Sinha is the Draper Chair in American History at the University of Connecticut.

James H. Broussard First Book Prize for 2016

The 2016 James Broussard Best First Book Prize went to Caitlin Fitz, in recognition of her book entitled Our Sister Republics: The United States in an Age of American Revolutions (W. W. Norton & Company, 2016). Caitlin Fitz is an assistant professor of history at Northwestern University.

The 2016 James Broussard Best First Book Prize went to Matthew Karp, in recognition of his book entitled This Vast Southern Empire : Slaveholders at the Helm of American Foreign Policy (Harvard University Press, 2016). Matthew Karp is an assistant professor of history at Princeton University.

James Bradford Biography Prize for 2016

The 2016 James Bradford Biography Prize went to Jane Kamensky, in recognition of her book entitled A Revolution In Color : The World of John Singleton Copley (W. W. Norton & Company, 2016). Jane Kamensky is Professor of History and Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director of the Schlesinger Library.

Mary Kelley Prize for 2016

The 2016 Mary Kelley Prize went to Laurel Clark Shire, in recognition of her book entitled The Threshold of Manifest Destiny: Gender and National Expansion in Florida (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016). Laurel Clark Shire is an assistant professor of history at Western University.

Article Prize 2016:

The 2016 Ralph D. Gray Article Prize went to Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor in recognition of her 2016 Journal of the Early Republic article entitled “Etymology of Nigger: Resistance, Language and the Politics of Freedom in the Antebellum North.” Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor is an assistant professor of History at the Smith College.

SHEAR Dissertation Prize for 2016

The SHEAR Manuscript Prize went to Michael Blaakman in recognition of his 2016 Yale dissertation entitled “Speculation Nation: Land and Mania in the Revolutionary American Republic, 1776-1803.” Michael Blaakman is an assistant professor of history at University of St. Thomas.

2015 Prize Winners

2015 SHEAR Book Prize

The 2015 SHEAR Book Prize went to Shane White, in recognition of his book entitled Prince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street’s First Black Millionaire (St. Martin’s Press, 2015). Shane White is the Challis Professor of History and an Australian Professorial Fellow in the History Department at the University of Sydney specializing in African-American history.

James Broussard Best First Book Prize

The 2015 James Broussard Best First Book Prize went to April R. Haynes, in recognition of her book entitled Riotous Flesh: Women, Physiology, and the Solitary Vice in Nineteenth-Century America (The University of Chicago Press, 2015). April R. Haynes is an assistant professor of history at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The 2015 James Broussard Best First Book Prize went to Brian Phillips Murphy, in recognition of his book entitled Building the Empire State: Political Economy in the Early Republic (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). Brian Murphy is an assistant professor of history at Baruch College.

James Bradford Biography Prize

The 2015 James Bradford Biography Prize went to Mary Sarah Bilder, in recognition of her book entitled Madison’s Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention (Harvard University Press, 2015). Mary Sarah Bilder is Founders Professor of Law and Michael and Helen Lee Distinguished Scholar, Boston College Law School.

Mary Kelley Prize

The 2015 inaugural Mary Kelley Prize went to Jen Manion, in recognition of her book entitled Liberty’s Prisoners: Carceral Culture in Early America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). Jen Manion is an associate professor of history at Amherst College.

Article Prize 2015:

The 2015 Ralph D. Gray Article Prize went to Rebeccah Bechtold in recognition of her 2015 Journal of the Early Republic article entitled “A Revolutionary Soundscape: Musical Reform and the Science of Sound in Early America, 1760-1840.” Rebeccah Bechtold is an assistant professor of English at the Wichita State University.

SHEAR Manuscript Prize 2015

The SHEAR Manuscript Prize went to Donald F. Johnson in recognition of his 2015 Northwestern dissertation entitled “Occupied America: Everyday Experience and the Failure of Imperial Authority in Revolutionary Cities under British Rule, 1775-1783.” Donald F. Johnson is an assistant professor of history at North Dakota State University.

2014 Prize Winners

SHEAR Book Prize for 2014

The 2014 SHEAR Book Prize went to François Furstenberg, in recognition of his book entitled When the United States Spoke French: Five Refugees Who Shaped a Nation (Penguin Press, 2014). François Furstenberg is an Associate Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University

James H. Broussard First Book Prize for 2014

The 2014 James Broussard Best First Book Prize went to Brian Rouleau, in recognition of his book entitled With Sails Whitening Every Sea: Mariners and the Making of an American Maritime Empire (Cornell University Press, 2014) Brian Rouleau is an assistant professor of history at Texas A & M University.

The 2014 James Broussard Best First Book Prize went to Catherine McNeur, in recognition of her book entitled Taming Manhattan: Environmental Battles in the Antebellum City (Harvard University Press). Catherine McNeur is an assistant professor of Environmental History and Public History at Portland State University.

James Bradford Biography Prize for 2014

The 2014 James Bradford Biography Rachel Hope Cleves, in recognition of her book entitled Charity & Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America (Oxford University Press, 2014). Rachel Hope Cleves is Associate Professor of History at the University of Victoria.

Article Prize 2014:

The 2014 Ralph D. Gray Article Prize went to Shane White in recognition of his Journal of the Early Republic article entitled “Freedom’s First Con: African Americans and Changing Notes in Antebellum New York City.” Shane White is Challis Professor of Historyat the University of Sydney.

SHEAR Manuscript Prize for 2014

The SHEAR Manuscript Prize went to Sarah L. H. Gronningsater in recognition of her 2014 University of Chicago dissertation entitled “Delivering Freedom: Gradual Emancipation, Black Legal Culture, and the Origins of Sectional Crisis in New York, 1759-1870.” Gronningsater is assistant professor of history at the California Institute of Technology.

2013 Prize Winners

SHEAR Book Prize for 2013

The 2013 SHEAR Book Prize went to Walter Johnson, in recognition of his book entitled River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom (Belknap Press, 2013). Walter Johnson is Winthrop Professor of History and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University

James H. Broussard First Book Prize for 2013

The 2013 James Broussard Best First Book Prize went to W. Caleb McDaniel in recognition of his book entitled The Problem of Democracy in the Age of Slavery: Garrisonian Abolitionists and Transatlantic Reform (Louisiana State University Press, 2013). W. Caleb McDaniel is assistant professor of history at Rice University.

The 2013 James Broussard Best First Book Prize went to Jessica M. Lepler in recognition of her book entitled The Many Panics of 1837: People, Politics, and the Creation of a Transatlantic Financial Crisis (Cambridge University Press, 2013). Jessica Lepler is assistant professor of history at University of New Hampshire.

Article Prize for 2013:

The 2013 Ralph D. Gray Article Prize went to David Head in recognition of his Journal of the Early Republic article entitled “Slave Smuggling by Foreign Privateers: The Illegal Slave Trade and the Geopolitics of the Early Republic” David Head is an assistant professor of history at Spring Hill College.

The SHEAR Manuscript Prize for 2013:

The SHEAR Manuscript Prize went to Craig Hollander in recognition of his 2013 Johns Hopkins dissertation entitled “Against A Sea of Troubles: Slave Trade Suppressionism during the Early Republic.” Craig Hollander is a postdoctoral fellow in the history department at Princeton University.

2012 Prize Winners

SHEAR Book Prize for 2012

The 2012 SHEAR Book Prize went to Amy S. Greenberg in recognition of her book entitled A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico (Alfred S. Knopf, 2012). Greenberg is a professor of history and women’s studies at the Pennsylvania State University.

The 2012 SHEAR Book Prize went to Eliga H. Gould in recognition of his book entitled Among the Powers of the Earth: The American Revolution and the Making of a New World Empire (Harvard University Press, 2012). Gould is a professor of history at the University of New Hampshire.

James H. Broussard First Book Prize for 2012

The 2012 James Broussard Best First Book Prize went to Adam Jortner in recognition of his book entitled The Gods of Prophetstown: The Battle of Tippecanoe and the Holy War for the American Frontier (Oxford University Press, 2012). Jortner is an assistant professor of History at Auburn University.

Ralph D. Gray Article Prize for 2012

The 2012 Ralph D. Gray Article Prize went to Ruth W. Herndon in recognition of her Journal of the Early Republic article entitled “Poor Women and the Boston Almshouse in the Early Republic.” Herndon is an associate professor of history at Bowling Green State University.

SHEAR Manuscript Prize for 2012

The SHEAR Manuscript Prize went to Sari Altschuler in recognition of her 2012 CUNY dissertation entitled “National Physiology: Literature, Medicine, and the Invention of the American Body, 1789-1860.” Sari Altschuler is assistant professor of English at the University of South Florida.