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Ira Berlin (May 27, 1941 – June 5, 2018) was an American
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
, professor of history at the
University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
, and former president of Organization of American Historians. Berlin is the author of such books as ''Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America'' (1998) and
Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American Slaves
' (2003).


Biography

Berlin grew up in The Bronx, New York, and received his
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
from the
University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
in 1970. He wrote extensively on
American history The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of Settlement of the Americas, the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Native American cultures in the United States, Numerous indigenous cultures formed ...
and the larger
Atlantic world The Atlantic World comprises the interactions among the peoples and empires bordering the Atlantic Ocean rim from the beginning of the Age of Discovery to the early 19th century. Atlantic history is split between three different contexts: trans-A ...
in the 18th and 19th centuries. Berlin focused in particular on the history of
slavery in the United States The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Sl ...
. His first book,
Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South
' (1974), was awarded the Best First Book Prize by the National Historical Society. Berlin's work is concerned with what he termed the "striking diversity" in African-American life under slavery. He argues that this diversity is especially evident with attention to the differences in African-American life under slavery across geography and time. In his 1998 book ''Many Thousands Gone'', which covers the history of North American slavery through the 18th century, Berlin differentiates among four regions and their respective forms of slavery: the Chesapeake, the Lowcountry of South Carolina and
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
, the
Lower Mississippi Valley The Mississippi River Alluvial Plain is an alluvial plain created by the Mississippi River on which lie parts of seven U.S. states, from southern Louisiana to southern Illinois (Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Lo ...
, and the North. He further differentiates each of these regions across three distinct "generations," emphasizing shifts over time. Berlin argues that geographic and temporal differences in the first two centuries of North American slavery had important consequences for African American culture and society. He founded th
Freedmen and Southern Society Project
and served as director until 1991. The project's multi-volume

' has twice been awarded the Thomas Jefferson Prize of the Society for the History of the Federal Government, as well as the J. Franklin Jameson Prize of the
American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...
for outstanding editorial achievement (October, 1999). He was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
in 2004. In 2003, Berlin was the chief advisor for the HBO documentary '' Unchained Memories''. In 2007, he was an advising scholar for the award-winning
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
documentary '' Prince Among Slaves'', produced b
Unity Productions Foundation


Selected bibliography

*''Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South'' (1974) Tells the story of the free black men and women who lived in the South before the Civil War. *''Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867'' (1982) Selections from the holdings of the National Archives; series one, volume three,

', edited by Ira Berlin, Thavolia Glymph, Steven F. Miller, Joseph P. Reidy, Leslie S. Rowland and Julie Saville. *
The Black Military Experience
' (
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...
, 1985) Collection of first-hand accounts from the National Archives. *''Slavery and Freedom in the Age of the American Revolution'', edited by Ira Berlin and Ronald Hoffman (University of Illinois Press, 1986) Essays. *
Cultivation and Culture: Labor and the Shaping of Slave Life in the Americas
', edited by Ira Berlin and Philip D. Morgan (Carter G. Woodson Institute Series in Black Studies, University Press of Virginia, 1993) Essays. *
Families and Freedom: A Documentary History of African-American Kinship in the Civil War Era
'' edited by Ira Berlin and Leslie S. Rowland (
New Press The New Press is an independent non-profit public-interest book publisher established in 1992 by André SchiffrinHarvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...
, 1998) 1999
Bancroft Prize The Bancroft Prize is awarded each year by the trustees of Columbia University for books about diplomacy or the history of the Americas. It was established in 1948, with a bequest from Frederic Bancroft, in his memory and that of his brother, ...
from
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
; 1999 Elliott Rudwick Prize of the Organization of American Historians; 1999 Frederick Douglass Prize for the Best Book on Slavery; 1998
Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...
Professional/Scholarly Publishing Annual Award in the category of History; 1998 ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' Book Prize; finalist for the 1998
National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Southern Historical Association The Southern Historical Association is a professional academic organization of historians focusing on the history of the Southern United States. It was organized on November 2, 1934. Its objectives are the promotion of interest and research in Sout ...
Frank L. and Harriet C. Owsley Award. *''Generations of Captivity: A History of African American Slaves'' (Harvard University Press, 2003) 2003
Albert J. Beveridge Award The Albert J. Beveridge Award is awarded by the American Historical Association (AHA) for the best English-language book on American history (United States, Canada, or Latin America) from 1492 to the present. It was established on a biennial basis ...
of the
American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...
; Anisfeld-Wolf Book Award for nonfiction. *''The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations'' (Viking, 2010) *''The Long Emancipation: The Demise of Slavery in the United States'' (Harvard University Press, 2015)


Filmography


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berlin, Ira 1941 births 2018 deaths Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Historians of the Southern United States Historians of the United States Historians of slavery Deaths from multiple myeloma University of Maryland, College Park faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Lincoln Prize winners Writers from the Bronx Deaths from cancer in the United States Bancroft Prize winners Historians from New York (state)