Ralph Lee Woodward Jr. Prize
Prize & Past Winners
Contest
Professor Woodward was a historian at the University of North Carolina (1963-1970), Tulane University (1970-1999), and TCU (1999-2003). He authored numerous publications, including: Class Privilege and Economic Development: The Consulado de Comercio of Guatemala, 1793-1871 (1966), Robinson Crusoe’s Island: A History of the Juan Fernández Islands (1969), and Central America: A Nation Divided (1976).
We invite submissions for graduate student papers presented during the October 2024 conference on Latin America, the Atlantic World, the Borderlands, and the Caribbean, time frame of study is open.
Criteria for selection include: quality and originality of research, new and stimulating interpretations, and writing quality.
Please include a cover letter with the name of the author, contact information, institutional affiliation, and a paper abstract.
Email submissions after the 2024 conference to ALL of the following committee members:
Prof. DJ Polite, committee chair
Augusta University
dopolite@augusta.edu
Prof. Will Morgan
Lone Star College
william.a.morgan@lonestar.edu
Prof. Bradley Wright
Alabama A&M University
bradley.wright@aamu.edu
Prof. Erica Johnson Edwards
Francis Marion University
ejohnson@fmarion.edu
Past Winners
2023 Winner: George Clay, Georgetwon University, “The Role of Christian Emotions in the Slave Society of Cartagena de Indias, 1620 to 1650"
2019 Winner: Nick McLeod, ““Black Jacobins and Black Bolsheviks: C.L.R. James’ Early Contributions to Historical Materialism.”
2017 Winner: Brad Wright, “Developing the ‘Ideal’ City, Finding the ‘Lost’ City: Space, Power, and Class in Urban Mexico (1960-1990).”
2016 Winner: Jorge Felipe Gonzalez, Michigan State University, “The Cuban Slave Trade, a Reassessment (1790-1808)
2015 Winner: Neal D. Polhemus, University of South Carolina, "Captive Narratives and Colonial Erasures in the Caribbean and Early Modern Iberian Atlantic"
2014: Nathan Weaver Olsen, University of Minnesota, "The (Un)lettered Frontier: Power and Literacy on the Fringes of Empire"
2013: Charlton W. Yingling, University of South Carolina, ""Every day the risk of sedition grows": Republicanism and Reaction in the Remaking of Race in Santo Domingo, 1791-1802"
2012: Elizabeth Neidenbach, College of William and Mary: "Anciennes Habitantes de Saint-Domingue: Migration and Social Networks in Testaments of Refugee Free Women of Color in New Orleans"
2011: Courtney Campbell, Vanderbilt University "Inside Out: Intellectual Views on Northeastern Brazilian Regional Identity and Transnational Change, 1926-1952"
2010: Mark Fleszar, Georgia State University: "'To See How Happy the Human Race Can Be': A Colonization Experiment on Haiti's Northern Coast, 1835-1845"
2009: Sitela Alvarez, Florida International University: "Cuban Exiles' Rejection of Imperialist Catholicism in Key West, 1870-1895"
2008: Leo B. Gorman, University of New Orleans: "Immigrant Labor Strife and Solidarity in Post-Katrina New Orleans"
2007: Tatiana Seijas, Yale University, "Indios Chinos in Colonial Mexico's Republica de Indios"
2006: Pablo Gomez, Vanderbilt University, "Slavery and Disability in Cartagena de Indias, Nuevo Reino de Granada"
2005: Magdalena Gomez, Florida International University: "La primera campaña de vacunación contra la viruela y el impacto del establecimiento de las Juntas de Vacuna en la administración de la salud pública, en el Caribe Hispano y la Capitanía de Venezuela, a comienzos del siglo XIX"
2004: David Wheat, Vanderbilt University: "Black Society in Havana"
2003: Sophie Burton, Texas Christian University: "Free Blacks in Natchitoches"
2002: Barry Robinson, Vanderbilt University: "Treachery in Colotlán (Mexico): The Problem of Individual Agency in Regional Insurgency, 1810-1815"
2001: Matthew Smith, University of Florida: "Race, Resistance and Revolution in Post-Occupation Haiti, 1934-46"