By: Patti McDonald
The College of Social Science honored Michigan State University History alumnus and Pulitzer Prize winner, David Blight, during homecoming week with the Distinguished Alumni Award, an award given to outstanding alumni who have obtained the highest levels of professional accomplishments. He also gave a special lecture on “The Fate of Our Democracy and How History Can Help You.”
Dr. Blight, a Flint, Michigan native, is Sterling Professor of History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University.
“If someone told me while I was attending MSU, that I would later receive a Distinguished Alumni Award, I would not believe them. So many incredible people have attended here. I kind of pinched myself a couple of times that I’m back and doing this at Michigan State. This was a serious dream for me. I got to go to college, and nobody else in my family except my brother went to college. MSU is where I began to realize this is what I want to do. I wanted to teach. I wanted to do research. I wanted to live in these places called universities,” said Dr. Blight.
Dr. Michael Stamm, Professor of history and chairperson of the department at MSU, presented Dr. Blight with this award at the College of Social Science Alumni Awards ceremony.
“David Blight is one of the most important historians of his generation, and his scholarship and work with the Gilder Lehrman Center have been tremendously important in shaping scholarly and public understandings of race and slavery in the United States. He has also been exceptionally generous to the MSU History Department, and because of his donations we are able to give an annual Blight History Scholarship to a deserving student. We are incredibly proud and grateful to have David Blight as a member of our community,” said Dr. Stamm.
Dr. Blight is recognized as one of the leading experts in the United States on Frederick Douglass, the Civil War, 19th century American history, African American history, and the concept of historical memo.
Dr. Blight is the recipient of many awards for his numerous books. His 2001 book, Race and Reunion: the Civil War in American Memory, won the Frederick Douglass Prize and the Bancroft Prize, the latter among the highest honors a historian can receive. His 2018 book, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, won the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize and the Pulitzer Prize in History.
During his lecture during homecoming week 2024 at MSU, Dr. Blight emphasized the significance of learning from historical experiences to comprehend the current political landscape and the state of democracy in the United States. He concentrated on examining the evolution of political norms over time.
“We are always being surprised by events, and for good reason, we don’t see everything coming,” Dr. Blight said. “We wonder, ‘how did we get here?’ That is a historical question. How did this come to be? The past is in everything we do.”
Dr. Blight will be returning to MSU in the spring to deliver the May 2025 commencement address for the College of Social Science at the Breslin Center. To learn more about Dr. Blight, visit https://www.davidwblight.com/