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Francis Smith Foster honored for contributions to racial relations
By CSLR | Emory Law | May 23, 2016 2:05:00 PM

CSLR Senior Fellow Frances Smith Foster has received the Gittler Prize from Brandeis University in recognition of her outstanding and lasting scholarly contributions to racial, ethnic, and religious relations.

Foster, professor emerita at Emory University, serves as Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Women's Studies. Her courses have focused on African American literature and culture, and women’s literature and culture. Her extensive writings bring out African Americans voices of the past and show their importance for today. Among her books, ‘Til Death or Distance Do Us Part: Love and Marriage in African America (Oxford University Press, 2009), Love and Marriage in Early African America (Northeastern University Press, 2007), and The Family in Africa and the African Diaspora: A Multidisciplinary Approach (Imprenta Kadmos, 2004). The books are products of CSLR’s Sex, Marriage and Family Project.

The Gittler Prize includes a $25,000 cash prize and a medal. Foster shares the award with Clayborne Carson, professor of history at Stanford University.

In 2010, Foster was awarded the Jay B. Hubbell Medal by the Modern Language Association of America for her contributions to American literature. 

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