Victor Luckerson Receives a Lillian Smith Book Award for 2024

 

 

Victor Luckerson received a 2024 Lillian Smith Book Award for his book "Built from the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa's Greenwood District, America's Black Wall Street." 

In Built from the Fire, Victor Luckerson delves into the legacy of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, which continues to impact the city’s Black community more than a century later. 

 

The book traces the history of the Greenwood community from a beacon of Black entrepreneurial success during the Jim Crow era through the violent massacre, which began with a false accusation against a Black teenager and led to the destruction of more than 1,200 homes and nearly every business in Greenwood, and into the present day. 

 

Prominent figures like Loula Williams, a successful businesswoman, and the Goodwin family, whose descendants continue to play a significant role in Greenwood, are central to Luckerson’s narrative. 

 

The book documents Greenwood’s history post-massacre, emphasizing the persistent challenges of white supremacy, class stratification, and governmental neglect. 

 

Luckerson, a journalist from Montgomery, Alabama, is the University of Tulsa’s writer in residence for 2023-2024. 

 

In addition to sharing his research and insights with students on campus, Luckerson is collaborating with the College of Law’s Buck Colbert Franklin Legal Clinic to investigate lawsuits filed by Greenwood property owners in the aftermath of the massacre. 

 

He has written for esteemed publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, TIME Magazine, and Smithsonian magazine.

Susan Crawford Receives a Lillian Smith Book Award for 2024

 

 

In "Charleston," Susan Crawford, a law professor, author, and technology expert, weaves together science, historical narratives, and personal stories of Black Charlestonians in her case study at the intersection of climate change and racial injustice in the coastal South Carolina city. 

 

The book grapples with the historical and present-day abuses of power that have shaped Charleston and offers a vision for a more equitable and resilient future, emphasizing the need for immediate, inclusive planning and climate justice. 

 

Crawford is the John A. Reilly Clinical Professor at Harvard Law School. 

 

She served as Special Assistant to the President for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy in 2009 and co-led the FCC transition between the Bush and Obama administrations. 

 

Her accolades include being named one of Politico’s 50 Thinkers, Doers, and Visionaries Transforming Politics in 2015, one of Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology in 2009, and one of TIME Magazine’s Tech 40: The Most Influential Minds in Tech in 2013.

Lillian Smith Book Award Ceremony 2024

Please join us for the 2024 Lillian Smith Book Award Ceremony, October 3, 2024.

 

The Georgia Center for the Book  

DeKalb Public Library

215 Sycamore Street

Decatur, Georgia 30030

View map

Thu Oct 3 2024

• Doors Open: 6:30 pm
• Start Time: 7:00 pm
• End Time: 8:00 pm 
•  Click here for Ticket Selection 

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About the Event

Join us for the 2024 Lillian Smith Book Awards Ceremony, which will be held on October 3rd, 2024, at 7 p.m. ET in the Decatur Library Auditorium. This free event includes remarks from both recipients and a Q&A followed by a book signing. The Lillian Smith Book Awards are sponsored by the Southern Regional Council, University of Georgia Libraries, DeKalb County Public Library/The Georgia Center for the Book, and Piedmont College. This event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested.

The LSBA committee is proud to award the 2024 Lillian Smith Book Award to:

SUSAN CRAWFORD for Charleston: Race, Water, and The Coming Storm

and

VICTOR LUCKERSON for Built From the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa's Greenwood District, America's Black Wall Street

About the Winners:

“In their books, Susan Crawford and Victor Luckerson illustrate not only past actions of racial injustice but also the generational impacts that continue to shape the communities of Charleston and Tulsa,” said Katherine Stein, interim associate university librarian for special collections and director of the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, which administers the award. “We look forward to recognizing these exceptional storytellers at the 2024 Lillian Smith Book Awards ceremony in October.”

In Charleston, Susan Crawford, a law professor, author, and technology expert, weaves together science, historical narratives, and personal stories of Black Charlestonians in her case study at the intersection of climate change and racial injustice in the coastal South Carolina city. The book grapples with the historical and present-day abuses of power that have shaped Charleston and offers a vision for a more equitable and resilient future, emphasizing the need for immediate, inclusive planning and climate justice.

Crawford is the John A. Reilly Clinical Professor at Harvard Law School. She served as Special Assistant to the President for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy in 2009 and co-led the FCC transition between the Bush and Obama administrations. Her accolades include being named one of Politico’s 50 Thinkers, Doers, and Visionaries Transforming Politics in 2015, one of Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology in 2009, and one of TIME Magazine’s Tech 40: The Most Influential Minds in Tech in 2013.

In Built from the Fire, Victor Luckerson delves into the legacy of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, which continues to impact the city’s Black community more than a century later. The book traces the history of the Greenwood community from a beacon of Black entrepreneurial success during the Jim Crow era through the violent massacre, which began with a false accusation against a Black teenager and led to the destruction of more than 1,200 homes and nearly every business in Greenwood, and into the present day. Prominent figures like Loula Williams, a successful businesswoman, and the Goodwin family, whose descendants continue to play a significant role in Greenwood, are central to Luckerson’s narrative. The book documents Greenwood’s history post-massacre, emphasizing the persistent challenges of white supremacy, class stratification, and governmental neglect. 

Luckerson, a journalist from Montgomery, Alabama, is the University of Tulsa’s writer in residence for 2023-2024. In addition to sharing his research and insights with students on campus, Luckerson is collaborating with the College of Law’s Buck Colbert Franklin Legal Clinic to investigate lawsuits filed by Greenwood property owners in the aftermath of the massacre. He has written for esteemed publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, TIME Magazine, and Smithsonian magazine.

About the Award:

The Southern Regional Council established the Lillian Smith Award shortly after Smith's death in 1966. Internationally acclaimed author of the controversial novel, Strange Fruit (1944), Lillian Smith was the most liberal and outspoken of white, mid-twentieth century Southern writers on issues of social and racial injustice. When other Southern liberals were charting a cautious course on racial change, Smith boldly and persistently called for an end to segregation. For such boldness, she was often scorned by more moderate southerners, threatened by arsonists, and denied the critical attention she deserved as a writer. Yet she continued to write and speak for improved human relations and social justice throughout her life.

Selected by a panel of judges, nominated books represent outstanding creative achievements worthy of recognition because of their literary merit, moral vision, and honest representation of the South, its people, problems, and promises. The Lillian Smith Book Awards honors those authors who, through their writing, carry on Smith's legacy of elucidating the condition of racial and social inequity and proposing a vision of justice and human understanding that represents the ideals of a racially just society.

The 2024 winners will receive a specially-designed, glass trophy bearing the embossed Lillian Smith Book Award logo. The award was designed by Nate Nardi of Decatur Glassblowing, and the logo was designed by Jerri Wilson of the DeKalb County Public Library.

Learn more about the award here: https://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/lillian-smith

Free General Admission

Click here for Ticket Selection

88 Books Nominated for 2024 Lillian Smith Book Awards

The Southern Regional Council (SRC) recently announced that eighty-eight books have been nominated for the Lillian Smith Book Awards for 2024 to be presented at the Georgia Center for the Book on October 3, 2024.

SRC was founded in 1919 to combat racial injustice in the South. SRC initiated the Lillian Smith Book Awards shortly after Smith's death in 1966 to recognize authors whose writing extends the legacy of the outspoken writer, educator and social critic who challenged her fellow Southerners and all Americans on issues of social and racial justice. 

Since 2004 the awards have been presented by SRC in a partnership with the University of Georgia Libraries, whose Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library houses a historic collection of Lillian Smith's letters and manuscripts. The Georgia Center for the Book became a partner in 2007, when the awards ceremony first became part of the Decatur Book Festival. Piedmont College, which operates the Lillian Smith Center, became a partner in 2015. 

The award recipients for 2023 were Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Democracy by Tomiko Brown Nagin and Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on Health in America by Linda Villarosa. 

The 2024 nominated books are:

Title Author American Gun Cameron McWhirter  and Zusha Elinson American Ramble Neil King American Whitelash Wesley Lowery America's Black Capital Jeffrey Ogbar An Inconvenient Cop Edwin Raymond Arguing for a Better World Arianne Shahvisi Banyan Moon Thao Thai Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights Dylan C. Penningroth Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family Rachel Jamison Webster Black and Queer on Campus Michael P. Jefferies Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis Maria Smilios Black Chameleon: Memory, Womanhood, and Myth Deborah DEEP Moulton Black on Black Daniel Black Blue Hour: A Novel Tiffany Clarke Harrison Bone Doctor's Concerto Dr. Alvin Crawford Bruised Magnolias: New South, Old Politics Leila Ryland Swain Built From the Fire Victor Luckerson Campus to Counter: Civil Rights Activism in Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina, 1960-1963 Brian Suttell Charleston Susan Crawford Coach Prime Jean-Jacques Taylor Cogitatio: Shadow in the Wind McKinley Aspen Cost of Free Land Rebecca Clarren Coyote's Swing: A Memoir and Critique of Mental Hygiene in Native America David Edward Walker Dark Days: Fugitive Essays Roger Reeves Dear Department Chair: Letters from Black Women Leaders to the Next Generation Stephanie Y Evans, S tephanie Shonekan,  Stephanie G Adams Death of a Jaybird Jodi M Savage Decent People De'Shawn Charles Winslow Dirt Don't Burn: A Black Community's Struggle for Educational Equality Under Segregation Larry Roeder  & Barry Harrelson Education of Kendrick Perkins Kendrick Perkins  with Seth Rogoff Faith, Race, and the Lost Cause: Confessions of a Southern Church Christopher Alan Graham False Starts Casey Stockstill Fever in the Heartland Timothy Egan Fire on the Levee Jared Fishman  and Joseph Hooper Food, Power, Politics: The Food Story of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement Bobby J Smith II Happiness Falls Angie Kim He/She/They: How We Talk About Gender and Why It Matters Schuyler Bailar Hijab Butch Blues Lamya H Homeward Angela Jackson-Brown Hope and Healing: Black Colleges and the Future of American Democracy John Silvanus Wilson Horse Barbie Geena Rocero I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War against Reconstruction Kidada E. Williams Imperfect Victims: Criminalized Survivors and the Promise of Abolition Feminism Leigh Goodmark In the Pines: A Lynching, A Lie, A Reckoning Grace Elizabeth Hale Indigenous DC: Native Peoples and the Nation's Capital Dr Elizabeth Rule Indigo Field Marjorie Hudson Injustice of Place Kathryn J. Edin,  H. Luke Shaefer,  Timothy J. Nelson Killing Closet VL Brunskill King: A Life Jonathan Eig Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr Leta McCollough Seletzky Learning from Birmingham: A Journey into History and Home Julie Buckner Armstrong "Let Us Go Free": Slavery and Jesuit Universities in America C Walker Gollar Life and Times of Hannah Crafts Gregg Hecimovich Life on Other Planets Aomawa Shields Majority Elizabeth L Silver Middle Daughter Chika Unigwe More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew John Blake Most Tolerant Little Town Rachel Louise Martin Necessary Trouble Drew Gilpin Faust Ordinary Notes Christina Sharpe Our Best Intentions Vibhuti Jain Our Migrant Souls Hector Tobar Path to Grace: Reimagining the Civil Rights Movement Ethel Morgan Smith Peach Seed Anita Gail Jones Political Disappointment: A Cultural History from Reconstruction to the AIDS Crisis Sara Marcus Promise Rachel Eliza Griffiths Say Anarcha JC Hallman Saying It Loud Mark Whitaker Shielded Joanna Schwartz Southern Enclosure: Settler Colonialism and the Postwar Transformation of Mississippi (2024) John H. Cable Stayed on Freedom Dan Berger Stealing Margaret Verble Stone Is Most Precious Where It Belongs: A Memoir of Uyghur Exile, Hope, and Survival Gulchehra Hoja Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) Sly Stone  with Ben Greenman;  Forward by Questlove Those We Thought We Knew David Joy To Speak a Defiant Word (2022) Pauli Murray Unfortunates JK Chuwku Unloose My Heart: A Personal Reckoning with the Twisted Roots of by Southern Family Tree Marcia Edwina  Herman-Giddens Unmasking the Klansman Dan T Cater Up Home Ruth J. Simmons
War as I Saw It: In Rhodesia, Now Zimbabwe, Through the Eyes of a Black Boy George Makonese Matuvi We Were Once a Family Roxanna Asgarian What Napoleon Could Not Do DK Nnuro Who Gets Believed?: When the Truth Isn't Enough Dina Nayeri Witness Jamel Brinkley Women of NOW Katherine Turk Wounded World Chad L. Williams Wreck Cassandra Jackson Written in the Sky: Lessons of a Southern Daughter Patricia Foster