Awards
2024
Guggenheim Fellowship, 2024
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2024
2023
Harriet Tubman Prize, Lapidus Center for Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery, New York Public Library, 2023
Frederick Douglass Book Prize, Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Yale University, Co-winner, 2023
National Council on Public History Book Award, 2023
Equity Award, American Historical Association, 2023
Joan Kelly Prize in women’s History/feminist history, American Historical Association, 2023
Grier Prize (for most significant article), Winterthur Portfolio journal, 2023
2022
Cundill History Prize, McGill University, 2022
Massachusetts Book Award, Nonfiction, Massachusetts Center for the Book, 2022
Ralph Waldo Emerson Award, Phi Beta Kappa Society, 2022
Finalist, Stone Book Award, Museum of African American History, Boston, 2022
Darlene Clark Hine Award in African American women’s and gender history, Organization of American Historians, 2022
Lawrence W. Levine Award in American cultural history, Organization of American Historians, 2022
John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, PEN America, 2022
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Nonfiction, The Cleveland Foundation, Co-winner, 2022
2021
National Book Award for Nonfiction, National Book Foundation, 2021
Finalist, Mark Lynton History Prize, Columbia University, 2021
Finalist, Kirkus Prize, Nonfiction, Kirkus Reviews, 2021
2018
Frederick Douglass Book Prize, Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Yale University, Co-winner, 2018
Finalist, John Hope Franklin Book Prize, American Studies Association, 2018
American Book Award, Before Columbus Foundation, 2018
Woman of Vision Award, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, 2018
National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholars Grant, 2017-2018
2017
Merle Curti Award in Social History, Organization of American Historians, 2017
James A. Rawley Prize in the History of Race Relations, Organization of American Historians, 2017
James Bradford Best Biography Prize, Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, 2017
Michigan Notable Book Award, Library of Michigan, 2017
2016
Bronze Medal in Multicultural Fiction, Independent Publisher Book Awards, 2016
Finalist, Lambda Literary Awards, Lesbian Novel, 2016
2015
Books All Georgians Should Read Award, Georgia Center for the Book, 2015
Dorothy Schweider Prize, best article on Midwestern history, Midwestern History Association, 2015
Mellon Foundation New Directions in the Humanities Fellowship, 2014-2015
2011
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellow (MacArthur Prize), 2011
Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin Best Book Award, American Society for Ethnohistory, 2011
Georgia Historical Society Lilla M. Hawes Book Award, 2011
Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Ten Most Influential Books of the First Decade of the 21st Century Prize, 2011
National Council on Public History Book Award, 2011
2010
A. Elizabeth Taylor Prize for the best article in southern women’s history, Southern Association for Women Historians, 2010
2007
Hiett Prize in the Humanities, Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, 2007
2006
Lora Romero Distinguished First Book Award, American Studies Association, 2006
Faculty Cornerstone Award, Black Celebratory Graduation, University of Michigan, 2006
Frederick Jackson Turner Award (for a first book in American history), Organization of American Historians, 2006
2005
Outstanding Teaching Award, Panhellenic Association and Interfraternity Council, University of Michigan, 2005
2001
Finalist, Ralph Henry Gabriel Dissertation Prize, American Studies Association, 2001