Morgan State University Newsroom Morgan State University
Morgan State University’s Herbert Brewer, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of History and Geography, has received a prestigious Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Dr. Brewer will serve as a 2017–2018 Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow for the Study of Slavery. The award, which comes with a $60,000 stipend and other benefits, was announced after a competitive selection process. Dr. Brewer will use the fellowship to support Georgetown University’s research into its historical ties to slavery in addition to his own research investigating the African-American diaspora in the 19th century Atlantic World.
“The fellowship allows me to complete my book, which will trace the transatlantic migrations and influence of free blacks from the Chesapeake in the early 19th century and the development of their political ideas, as well as contribute to Georgetown’s ongoing ‘slavery, memory and reconciliation’ initiative,” said Dr. Brewer, who is a coauthor of “A Guide to the History of Slavery in Maryland.” “The fellowship will also involve research in the archives of the Jesuit Province of Maryland, which contains important documents pertaining to the history of African-American slavery and freedom in the Chesapeake. Those archives are housed at Georgetown.”
Georgetown University, the nation’s oldest Catholic and Jesuit university, founded in 1789, recently received a five-year, $1.5-million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to address the legacies of slavery, racism and discrimination, following a university report released in 2016 on Georgetown’s historic involvement in the institution of slavery. For more information about the report, visit https://www.georgetown.edu/sla
