Umd Professor Honored For Contributions To African-American Studies

Distinguished University Professor Ira Berlin awarded the 2014 W.E.B. Du Bois Medal by Harvard University's Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Distinguished University Professor Ira Berlin was awarded the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal for 2014 by Harvard University's Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.

Given since 2000, the medal is Harvard’s highest honor for those whose work contributes to African American culture.

A leading expert in African American studies, Ira Berlin is a professor in the university's history department and has written extensively on American history and the larger Atlantic world in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly the history of slavery.

Berlin has played a significant role in bringing African American history to the forefront, by contributing to projects like the 2013 film "12 Years a Slave," the BS-broadcast documentary "Prince Among Slaves," and HBO's "The Loving Story."

Berlin is the author of numerous award-winning books on the topic of slavery, including "The Making of African America - The Four Great Migrations" (2010), which was reviewed by The New York Times in 2010. He has served as a consultant for the Smithsonian Institution, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and the New-York Historical Society.

Other recent recipients of the Du Bois medal include Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor and film director Steven Spielberg.