We are thrilled to announce that Carla Peterson, professor of English at the University of Maryland and MITH Faculty Fellow has won a 2011 New York City Book Award from the New York Society Library for her recent book Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City (Yale University Press, 2011). Peterson will travel to the New York Society Library on May 2nd to claim her award and celebrate the other two winners.
Part detective tale, part social and cultural narrative, Black Gotham is Carla Peterson’s riveting account of her quest to reconstruct the lives of her nineteenth-century ancestors. As she shares their stories and those of their friends, neighbors, and business associates, she brings to the forefront the rarely acknowledged achievements of nineteenth-century African Americans and a vital yet forgotten part of American history and culture.
“The New York Society Library’s New York City Book Awards, established in 1996, honor books of literary quality or historical importance that, in the opinion of the selection committee, evoke the spirit or enhance appreciation of New York City. It is not necessary that the city be the major subject of the book, but it must play an essential, invigorating role beyond that of the setting.” The New York Society Library, the oldest in the city, was founded in 1754 by the New York Society. It is located at East 79th Street. For more information please visit nysoclib.org.