Barbara D. Savage, the Geraldine R. Segal Professor Emerita of American Social Thought and a professor emerita of Africana studies, has been awarded the 2024 American Book Award by the Before Columbus Foundation and was a finalist for the prestigious Museum of African American History Stone Book Award.

She received these honors for her latest work, Merze Tate: The Global Odyssey of a Black Woman Scholar, in recognition of her literary achievement. The book is a biography of Merze Tate, a trailblazing Black woman scholar and intrepid world traveler.

According to MAAH, “Barbara Savage’s lucid and skilled rendering of Tate’s story is built on more than a decade of research. Tate’s life and work challenge provincial approaches to African American and American history, women’s history, the history of education, diplomatic history, and international thought.”

The Before Columbus Foundation American Book Awards were created to provide recognition for outstanding literary achievement from the entire spectrum of America’s diverse literary community. The awards recognize literary excellence without limitations or restrictions. The award winners range from well-known and established writers to under-recognized authors and first works. The Before Columbus Foundation views American culture as inclusive and has always considered the term “multicultural” to be not a description of various categories, groups, or “special interests,” but rather as the definition of all of American literature. The awards are not bestowed by an industry organization, but rather are a writers’ award given by other writers.

The 2024 American Book Award winners will be formally recognized on October 27 at the SF Jazz Center in San Francisco.