Gretchen Gerzina

Gretchen Gerzina
Born1950 (age 73–74)
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.
Other namesGretchen Holbrook Gerzina
Occupation(s)Historian, author, academic
Notable workBlack England: Life Before Emancipation
SpouseAnthony Gerzina
Children2
Websitegretchengerzina.com

Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina (born 1950) is an American author and academic who has written mostly historically-grounded biographical studies. She has written about Black British history.[1][2] Her academic posts have included being the Kathe Tappe Vernon Professor of Biography at Dartmouth College, working as a professor at Vassar College, being a professor and a director of Africana Studies at Barnard College, and as of April 2019 being the Dean of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Commonwealth Honors College.[3] Gerzina was the host of WAMC's nationally-syndicated radio program The Book Show for fourteen years, where she interviewed authors.[4]

In the UK, she presented a 10-part documentary for BBC Radio 4 called Britain's Black Past,[5] which she subsequently adapted into a book.[6][7]

Personal life

She was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, just before she was five years old.[4] She is married to Anthony Gerzina and they have two sons.[4]

Selected publications

  • 1989: Carrington: A Life
  • 1995: Black England: Life Before Emancipation. (Also known as Black London: Life Before Emancipation)[8][9][10]
  • 2004: Frances Hodgson Burnett: The unexpected life of the author of The Secret Garden[11][12]
  • 2008: Mr. and Mrs. Prince: How an Extraordinary 18th-Century Family Moved out of Slavery and into Legend

References

  1. ^ Sudan, R. (2013). Fair Exotics: Xenophobic Subjects in English Literature, 172-185. New Cultural Studies. University of Pennsylvania Press, Incorporated. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-8122-0376-9. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  2. ^ "Private Passions: Gretchen Gerzina". BBC Media Centre. 4 October 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  3. ^ "About Us | Dean Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina". Commonwealth Honors College. University of Massachusetts Amherst. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c "About Gretchen Gerzina". gretchengerzina.com. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  5. ^ "Britain's Black Britain". BBC Radio 4. October 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  6. ^ Gerzina, Gretchen (March 11, 2020). Britain's Black Past. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1789621600.
  7. ^ Adi, Hakim (2022). "Reviewed Work: Britain's Black Past by Gretchen H. Gerzina". New West Indian Guide. 96 (1/2): 183–184. doi:10.1163/22134360-09601002. JSTOR 27130500. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  8. ^ Rogers, P. (1996). "Black England - Life before emancipation". The Times Literary Supplement: 8.
  9. ^ Barthelemy, A. G. (1997). "Black London: Life before Emancipation". African American Review (31 ed.): 508. doi:10.2307/3042578. JSTOR 3042578.
  10. ^ Porter, R. (1995). "Black London: Life Before Emancipation". The New York Times Book Review (30 ed.).
  11. ^ Walter, Natasha (May 8, 2004). "Review | Sugar and spice". The Guardian. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  12. ^ Mills, C. (2004). "Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Unexpected Life of the Author of The Secret Garden (review)". Children's Literature Association Quarterly (29 ed.): 270–272.