Two Fulbright U.S. Scholar Alumni Win 2019 Pulitzer Prizes

Congratulations to Fulbright U.S. Scholar alumni David W. Blight and Jeffrey C. Stewart on receiving the 2019 Pulitzer Prize! The Pulitzer Prize honors excellence in American journalism, literature, and musical composition.

Teacher, scholar and public historian David W. Blight received the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for his book, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, which earned accolades from the Pulitzer Prize Board for being “a breathtaking history that demonstrates the scope of Frederick Douglass’ influence.” A Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Germany in 1992-93, Blight is the Class of 1954 Professor of American History at Yale University. As the director of Yale’s Gilder Lehrman Center, Blight organizes conferences, working groups, lectures, and administers the annual Frederick Douglass Book Prize, along with other public outreach programs around the history of slavery and abolition. 

Jeffrey C. Stewart won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for his biography, The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke, described by the Pulitzer Board as “a panoramic view of the personal trials and artistic triumphs of the father of the Harlem Renaissance and the movement he inspired.” A 2003 Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Italy, Stewart was a Professor of American Studies at the University of Rome. He has spent his career studying the issues of race and culture as they relate to art, history, literature, music, and philosophy, and is a Professor of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

86 Fulbright Program alumni have won a total of 92 Pulitzer Prizes. View the complete list of Fulbright alumni among Pulitzer Prize winners.