William Shield McFeely (September 25, 1930 – December 11, 2019) was an American historian known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1981 biography of Ulysses S. Grant, as well as his contributions to a reevaluation of the Reconstruction era, and for advancing the field of

African-American history African-American history began with the arrival of Africans to North America in the 16th and 17th centuries. Former Spanish slaves who had been freed by Francis Drake arrived aboard the Golden Hind at New Albion in California in 1579. The ...

. Genzlinger, Neil (December 13, 2019).
William McFeely, Pulitzer-Winning Historian, Dies as 89
. ''New York Times''. Retrieved December 14, 2019. Print version December 14, 2019, p. B11. He retired as the Abraham Baldwin Professor of the Humanities emeritus at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

in 1997, and was affiliated with

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

since 2006.

Biography

McFeely was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, the son of William C. McFeely, an executive with Grand Union supermarkets, and Marguerite McFeely (née Shield), a homemaker. He graduated from Ramsey High School, in New Jersey. After earning a B.A. at Amherst College in 1952, he worked for the First National City Bank of New York for eight years, before deciding to pursue graduate work in

American studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, history, society, and culture. It traditionally incorporates literary criticism, historiography and critical theory. Schol ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, where he received his Ph.D. in 1966. At Yale, he studied with, among others, C. Vann Woodward, whose book '' The Strange Career of Jim Crow'' was a staple of the Civil Rights Movement. Like Woodward, he sought to employ history in the service of civil rights. His dissertation, later the 1968 book ''Yankee Stepfather'', explored the ill-fated Freedmen's Bureau which was created to help ex-slaves after the Civil War. McFeely taught at Yale until 1970, during the tumultuous years of the

American Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United ...

and Black Power movements, and was instrumental in creating the African-American studies program there, at a time when such programs were still controversial. One of his black students in his class was Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Director of the

Hutchins Center for African & African American Research The Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, also known as the Hutchins Center, is affiliated with Harvard University. The Center supports scholarly research on the history and culture of people of African descent around the world, ...

at Harvard University and Professor at Harvard. He taught for 16 years at Mount Holyoke College before joining the

in 1986 as the Constance E. Smith Fellow. McFeely won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for his 1981 biography of Ulysses S. Grant, which portrayed the general and president in a harsh light. He concluded that Grant "did not rise above limited talents or inspire others to do so in ways that make his administration a credit to American politics." McFeely retired in 1997. He was a fellow at Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study during the 2006–2007 academic year, where he studied Henry Adams and his wife Clover Adams, and Clarence King and his wife Ada Copeland King. He was a visiting scholar and associate member of Harvard's Afro-American Studies Department and an associate of their Humanities Center. McFeely died of

idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), or (formerly) fibrosing alveolitis, is a rare, progressive illness of the respiratory system, characterized by the thickening and stiffening of lung tissue, associated with the formation of scar tissue. It is ...

on December 11, 2019 at his home in Sleepy Hollow, New York at the age of 89.

Awards and honors

*1982 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for ''Grant: A Biography'' *1982

Francis Parkman Prize The Francis Parkman Prize, named after Francis Parkman, is awarded by the Society of American Historians for the best book in American history each year. Its purpose is to promote literary distinction in historical writing. The Society of American ...

for ''Grant: A Biography'' *Member,

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 ...

(since 1987) *The Lincoln Prize 1991 for ''Frederick Douglass'' (based upon the life of

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

). *1992 Avery O. Craven Award from the Organization of American Historians. Organization of American Historians
"Avery O. Craven Award Winners"
Retrieved on May 25, 2013.

Select scholarship

* ''Yankee Stepfather: General O.O. Howard and the Freedmen'' (W. W. Norton, 1968) * ''Grant: A Biography'' (W. W. Norton, 1981) * ''Frederick Douglass'' (W. W. Norton, 1990) * ''Sapelo's People: A Long Walk into Freedom'' (W. W. Norton, 1994) * ''Proximity to Death'' (W. W. Norton, 2000) * ''Portrait: The Life of Thomas Eakins'' (W. W. Norton, 2007)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McFeely, William S. 1930 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American biographers 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American biographers 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Amherst College alumni Harvard University people Historians of the United States Historians from New York (state) Mount Holyoke College faculty Writers from New York City Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winners Ramsey High School (New Jersey) alumni University of Georgia faculty Lincoln Prize winners Yale University alumni 20th-century American male writers

Biography

Awards and honors

Select scholarship

See also

References

External links