Writer/Scholar Jackson ’90 Wins Awards for ‘Indignant Generation’

The Indignant Generation:  A Narrative History of African American Writers and Critics, 1934-1960, by Lawrence Jackson ’90, received two notable awards. In December the Modern Language Association awarded it the 2011 William Sanders Scarborough Prize, calling it a “magisterial narrative history of African American literature,” as well as “[b]eautifully written and rich in historical detail.” The citation noted that it “should quickly become a standard work in 20th-century African American studies and United States publishing history.”

In January, Jackson received news that The Indignant Generation won the Black Caucus of the American Library Association literary award in the nonfiction category. These awards recognize excellence in adult fiction and nonfiction by African American authors. Jackson’s work “offers readers rare insights into the lives of key players who contributed to the breadth of writing that flourished between 1934 and 1960,” they noted.

The book was also a finalist for the Hurston/ Wright nonfiction book prize.

Jackson is English and African American Studies at Emory University. His upcoming book My Father’s Name: A Black Virginia Family After the Civil War, is an exploration into his own ancestry and will be published by The University of Chicago Press in May.

Jackson talks about the research and discovery behind My Father’s Name in this video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BO7EQmtB2g[/youtube]