Due to a shortage of applications, the BrANCH Harriet Tubman Prize committee are extending the call for submissions one last time until the 29th July 2024. Disappointingly, we have only received one submission, so please do think back on any standout essays from any Black, Asian, or other Minority Ethnic students this year and encourage them to submit to the prize. The recent RHS report on race in higher education has shown that racial diversity has increased marginally at undergraduate level, but continues to be low across the board, and still drops at Masters and PhD. Therefore, it is important for us as an association of historians to try to encourage diversity and inclusion at every level of higher education. Past winners of the Tubman prize have gone on to apply for MAs and PhDs, and have also successfully published their winning work, demonstrating the importance of prizes such as Tubman in encouraging progression from Undergraduate to PhD level study for BAME students. The committee thanks you for your time and effort in supporting these students, and we can only emphasise the significance of the continuation of this support. Please find the details of the prize below.
Sponsored by the Royal Historical Society, the Harriet Tubman Essay Prize is awarded for the best undergraduate essays or research projects on any kind of nineteenth century American history by Black, Asian, or Minority Ethnic students based in the UK. In the current cycle, up to £500 will be awarded for the Tubman Prize.
A survey of our discipline undertaken by BrANCH, BAAS, and HOTCUS, and supported by reports published by the BAAS and the Royal Historical Society, has identified major obstacles to racial and ethnic diversity and inclusion in history departments in UK universities. One such obstacle is the progression of BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) from undergraduate to postgraduate level. As an organisation, BrANCH is seeking to initiate positive and ongoing action in response to these obstacles.
Named for the fugitive enslaved woman, abolitionist, and activist, the Harriet Tubman prize has been designed to encourage more BAME students to consider postgraduate work in nineteenth century American history.
We invite submissions of undergraduate coursework written on any area of American history in the long nineteenth century by students identifying as BAME in their second or third year of undergraduate study (third or fourth year in Scottish HEIs). Work should be 2500-3500 words in length, including footnotes but excluding bibliography. While we expect the thematic content to be broad, judges will consider the level of knowledge, writing style, degree of original thinking, and overall quality of the piece.
Submissions should include a letter from a lecturer in the student’s department confirming their registration on an undergraduate course, alongside a permanent mailing address and email address for the student. Submissions, and any other queries related to the prize, should be sent to our EDI officer Aisha Djelid (aisha.djelid@reading.ac.uk)
