Linda Marinda Heywood (born Tunapuna,

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

1945) is a Caribbean-American historian and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

African American studies Black studies or Africana studies (with nationally specific terms, such as African American studies and Black Canadian studies), is an interdisciplinary academic field that primarily focuses on the study of the history, culture, and politics of ...

and

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. Before coming to Boston University in 2003, Heywood taught at

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

(1984-2003). Heywood is a specialist in African history, with a particular interest in Angola. Her dissertation, published as Contested Power in Angola dealt with the transition of the Central Highlands kingdoms (Viye, Mbailundu, Wambo and others) from independence to colonial rule and included the liberation struggle and Angolan civil war from the 1840s to the 1990s. While at Howard, Heywood taught regularly in the required Black Diaspora class and as a became engaged in research on the African Diaspora, which resulted in the publication of her edited Central Africans and Cultural Transformations book and eventually Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles and the Foundation of the Americas. A long term interest in the life of Angolan Queen Njinga resulted in the publication of Njinga of Angola in 2017. Heywood has a BA from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

and a PhD from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. In 2008, she shared the

Herskovits Prize The ASA Best Book Prize, formerly known as the Herskovits Prize (Melville J. Herskovits Prize), is an annual prize given by the African Studies Association to the best scholarly work (including translations) on Africa published in English in the p ...

for her book (co-authored with her husband John Thornton) ''

Central Africa Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...

ns,

Atlantic Creole Atlantic Creole is a cultural identifier of those with origins in the transatlantic settlement of the Americas via Europe and Africa.American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) 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, and other ...

in 2020.

Selected publications

* ''Contested Power in Angola, 1840s to the Present''.

University of Rochester Press Boydell & Brewer is an academic press based in Martlesham, Suffolk, England, that specializes in publishing historical and critical works. In addition to British and general history, the company publishes three series devoted to studies, editio ...

, Rochester, 2000. * ''Central Africans and Cultural Transformations in the

American Diaspora Emigration from the United States is the process where citizens and nationals from the United States move to live in countries other than the US, creating an American Diaspora (Overseas Americans). The process is the reverse of the immigration to ...

''.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 2001. (

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

and contributor) * ''Central African, Atlantic Creoles, and the Foundation of America 1585-1660''. Cambridge University Press, 2007. (with John Thornton) * ''Njinga of Angola: Africa's Warrior Queen''.

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, 2017.Briefly reviewed in th
March 20, 2017 issue
of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', p.97.

References

1945 births Living people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century American historians 21st-century American women writers 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American women academics African-American women academics ASA Best Book Prize winners African-American women writers American women historians Boston University faculty Brooklyn College alumni Columbia University alumni Historians of Africa Historians of the United States {{US-historian-stub