![]() ![]() ![]() It was a slow process, and I was a late bloomer. How did the UW contribute to your development as an academic? ![]() I went to Michigan State as an undergraduate, and my mentor at MSU said Wisconsin had a great history department, so I applied. Even in high school, I wanted to be a history teacher. There were good public schools in Flint that made it possible for the working class to move up to the middle class. Neither of my parents had gone to college, but if I could help it, I never wanted to work in a factory. I grew up in a trailer park in Flint, and my father worked for AC Spark Plug. When did you decide to become a history professor? The origins of the book lie in the doctoral thesis Blight wrote at the UW 40 years ago and reflect a fascination with the Civil War that dates back to his high school years. He devoted his life to fighting against slavery and, later, against the cruel backlash to Reconstruction that eliminated many of the advances won by former slaves. ![]() Douglass was perhaps the most prominent African American of the 19th century - a former slave who was a compelling speaker, newspaper editor, and political activist. Yale professor David Blight PhD’85 won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for History for his definitive biography Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom. ![]()
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