The Lillian Smith Book Awards are administered by the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia and honor books dedicated to social justice issues
Jelani Favors’ book, Shelter in a Time of Storm: How Black Colleges Fostered Generations of Leadership and Activism (University of North Carolina Press, 2019), explores the history of historical black colleges and universities and how they have fostered student activism. Favors, associate professor of history at Clayton State University, writes about the role that HBCUs played as a refuge for minorities during the Jim Crow era and describes the role the campus communities played during the civil rights and Black Power movements.
Brandon K. Winford's book, John Hervey Wheeler, Black Banking, and the Economic Struggle for Civil Rights (University Press of Kentucky, 2019), is about African American banker and civil rights lawyer Wheeler and his role as an activist for black businesses, exploring how economic concerns shaped the fight for civil rights.
