Former Fellow Jeffrey Stewart Wins 2019 Pulitzer Prize with Wilson Center Research

Dr. Jeffrey Stewart, Professor of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a 1992-93 Wilson Center alum, recently won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Biography for his book The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke.

An associate professor at George Mason University at the time, Stewart was a Fellow in the United States Studies Program in 1992-93. His project during that time was titled "Enter the New Negro: Alain Locke and the Transformation of African American Culture, 1885-1954," which translated into his Pulitzer Prize-winning book. 

In The New Negro, Stewart narrates the life of the father of the Harlem Renaissance based on primary documents and interviews with individuals who knew him personally. Stewart highlights Locke’s influence on Black art and creativity through Locke’s diverse education and travel experiences, while also exploring his private life and relationships.

Stewart’s book on Alain Locke also won the 2018 National Book Award for Nonfiction. Among many other essays, articles, and books, he also authored the essay “Beyond Category: Before Afro-Futurism there was Norman Lewis” in Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis (2015), an exhibition catalogue which won the 2017 Alfred H. Barr Award of the College Art Association.  During his tenure as chair of the Department of Black Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara from 2008 to 2016, he launched an international three day conference, "1968: A Global Year of Student Driven Change”; an outdoor exhibit called the “North Hall Display” to commemorate the events of 1968 takeover of North Hall that transformed the UCSB curriculum and campus climate; and Jeffrey's Jazz Coffeehouse, a pop-up jazz club situated in a local eatery to reconfigure space with jazz aesthetics.

Stewart is currently working on a book on the Knowledge Revolution of 1968 transnationally and a biographical study of 18th century movements in activism, STEM, and Afrofuturism.