History professor wins National Book Award for nonfiction

COLUMBUS -- Kevin Boyle, associate professor of history at The Ohio State University who lives in Bexley, Ohio, won the 2004 National Book Award for nonfiction, the National Book Award Foundation announced on Wednesday (11/17) in New York City. The Foundation described his book, “Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age” (Henry Holt, 2004), as a “history that is at once an intense courtroom drama, a moving biography, and an engrossing look at race in America in the early 20th century.”

“We are immensely proud of Dr. Boyle and the recognition he has received for ‘Arc of Justice,’” said University President Karen Holbrook. “Receiving the National Book Award puts Kevin among very elite company, and it shows his ability as both an author and historian. This is a tremendous success for a first-rate scholar.”

More than 200 publishers submitted books written by U.S. citizens and published in the U.S. between Dec. 1, 2003 and Nov. 30, 2004. A panel of four judges, independent of the National Book Foundation, was responsible for reviewing a record 1,074 entries to determine the finalists and ultimately the winners.

Books were judged in four categories – young people’s literature, nonfiction, poetry and fiction. Boyle’s book was one of five finalists in the non-fiction category, edging out, among others, “The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States-Authorized Edition.” Each winner receives $10,000 plus a bronze statue.

In “Arc of Justice,” Boyle tells the compelling story of Ossian Sweet, a black physician, and his wife who moved into a white Detroit neighborhood in 1925. Days after moving in, an angry white mob gathered outside their home. Some threw rocks at the house, shattering windows. When the doctor’s family and friends were forced to defend the home, shots fired from inside the house killed one man and wounded another.

Although this local incident was not necessarily unique for the times, it spawned two civil rights cases that focused on housing segregation and the right of blacks to protect their property. “When people discuss civil rights, they don’t talk much about what happened in the North, and they don’t talk about what was going on in the 1920s and 30s. The NAACP and others saw this case as symbolic of national issues,” Boyle explained.

Attorney Clarence Darrow, fresh off the Scopes monkey trial, defended Dr. Sweet and the 10 others under siege that night. A hung jury ended the first trial; an acquittal freed the defendants in the second trial.

A native of Detroit, Boyle said, “I wanted to explore a civil rights case that doesn’t get much attention. Housing segregation is so common today that it may almost seem natural to many people. But it wasn’t always that way. There was a moment in time when segregation was created, and people fought against it. And this story is about that moment in time.”

Boyle points out, however, that the 2000 U.S. Census showed Detroit is still the second-most segregated city in the country, right behind Milwaukee. “The problem that black leaders highlighted with the Sweet case in 1925 is still with us today.”

Boyle sees a strong relationship between his research and teaching. The power of storytelling shapes his writing and his teaching, according to Boyle. He teaches 20th century American history with a focus on class, race, and politics. He is the author of “The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945-1968” (Cornell University Press, 1995). He co-authored “Muddy Boots and Ragged Aprons: Images of Working-Class Detroit, 1900-1930” (Wayne State University, 1997) with Victoria Getis.

A member of the history department since 2002, he is the editor of “Organized Labor and American Politics, 1894-1994: The Labor-Liberal Alliance.” After earning his Ph.D. in history at the University of Michigan, he taught at the University of Massachusetts, the University of Toledo, and was the Mary Ball Washington Chair of U.S. History at University College in Dublin, Ireland.

Boyle has held fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Fulbright Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. He serves on the executive board of the Labor and Working Class History Association, on the advisory board for the Walter P. Reuther Library, and on the editorial board of “Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas.”

Boyle’s National Book Award tops a long list of accomplishments in Ohio State’s Department of History. “His colleagues have been recognized for their writing in Argentina, England, Italy, and Spain, and many colleagues have won the top book prizes in their respective national and international historical fields,” said Chair Kenneth Andrien.