Kerri K. Greenidge is an American historian and academic. Her book ''Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter'', a biography of civil rights activist

William Monroe Trotter William Monroe Trotter, sometimes just Monroe Trotter (April 7, 1872 – April 7, 1934), was a newspaper editor and real estate businessman based in Boston, Massachusetts. An activist for African-American civil rights, he was an early opponent o ...

, won the 2020

Mark Lynton History Prize The Mark Lynton History Prize is an annual $10,000 award given to a book "of history, on any subject, that best combines intellectual or scholarly distinction with felicity of expression". The prize is one of three awards given as part of the J. A ...

. Her sisters are the playwright

Kirsten Greenidge Kirsten Greenidge is an American playwright. Her plays are known for their realistic language and focus on social issues such as the intersectionality of race, gender, and class. Her sisters are the historian Kerri Greenidge and writer Kaitlyn Gre ...

and the novelist

Kaitlyn Greenidge Kaitlyn Greenidge is an American writer. She received a 2017 Whiting Award for Fiction for her debut novel, ''We Love You, Charlie Freeman''. Her second book is a historical novel called ''Libertie'' (2021). Early life and education Greenidge ...

Biography

Greenidge is Mellon Assistant Professor in the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

, director of American Studies and co-director of the African American Trail Project at Tufts' Center for the Study of Race and Democracy.American Studies faculty
Tufts University. Retrieved 7 July 2020."Winners and finalists of the 2020 Lukas Prize Project Awards announced"
Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. Retrieved 7 July 2020. Previously Greenidge worked as a historian for the

Boston African American National Historic Site The Boston African American National Historic Site, in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts's Beacon Hill neighborhood, interprets 15 pre-Civil War structures relating to the history of Boston's 19th-century African-American community, connecte ...

, under the auspices of which she wrote and published ''Boston Abolitionists'', a short history of the role that

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

leaders in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

's Beacon Hill neighborhood played in the

Abolitionist Movement Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. T ...

in the pre–Civil War era. Greenidge's research focuses on the role that

African-American literature African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. Phillis Wheatley was an enslaved African woman who became the first African American to publish a book of poetry, which was publis ...

has played in the Civil Rights Movement and particularly its more radical expressions in Boston during the

Progressive Era The Progressive Era (1890s–1920s) was a period in the United States characterized by multiple social and political reform efforts. Reformers during this era, known as progressivism in the United States, Progressives, sought to address iss ...

, as well as its intersection with

populism Populism is a essentially contested concept, contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the "common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently a ...

in the Democratic Party. Greenidge signed 2020 A Letter on Justice and Open Debate, but asked later for her name to be removed from the letter, which was done. Greenidge's 2022 book ''The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family'' was a finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle award in biography. In a glowing review, the ''New York Times'' notes that Greenidge establishes "the sisters’ contributions to abolition and women’s rights were undergirded by the privileges they reaped from slavery."

Smithsonian (magazine) ''Smithsonian'' is a magazine covering science, history, art, popular culture and innovation. The first issue was published in 1970. History The history of ''Smithsonian'' began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of ''Life'' magazine ...

named the book one of the ten best history books of 2022, and it was shortlisted for the ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize for History in the same year.

Publications

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Greenidge, Kerri K. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Tufts University faculty American women biographers 21st-century American biographers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century African-American writers