Dr. Sharon Ann Murphy Awarded Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Congratulations to Dr. Sharon Ann Murphy! She was awarded an extremely competitive Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to complete her latest book, “Banking and Slavery in the Antebellum South.” Only 8% of applicants for NEH fellowships are successful in receiving one, proving how remarkable Dr. Murphy and her work are.
Here is a brief excerpt from Dr. Murphy’s proposal:
“This project focuses on the conscious choices made by bankers to directly, knowingly, and explicitly interact with the slave system. Dr. Murphy’s research reveals that southern commercial banks accepted slaves as collateral for loans, helped underwrite the sale of slaves, and sold slave property as part of foreclosure proceedings. Commercial bank involvement with slavery occurred throughout the antebellum period and across the South, placing southern banks at the heart of the domestic slave trade. This project will result in the first major monograph on the relationship between banking and slavery, shedding light on how these financial relationships worked across the South. Yet many banks limited their direct involvement with slavery, demonstrating that capitalism did not need slavery to develop. Slavery was intricately, but not inevitably, tied up with the capitalist system.”
Dr. Murphy was also the recipient of PC’s Outstanding Faculty Scholar Award for 2019. Join us in congratulating her on yet another incredible accomplishment!
More information on the award can be found here: https://www.neh.gov/news/neh-announces-309-million-188-humanities-projects-nationwide?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
