Barbara D. Savage, the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, is the recipient of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion from the University of Louisville and the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She was honored for her book Your Spirits Walk Beside Us: The Politics of Black Religion (Harvard University Press). The award comes with a $100,000 prize.
Professor Savage has been on the faculty at Penn since 1995. Previously, she worked as a congressional aide and as a staff member of the Children’s Defense Fund.
Dr. Savage is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the Georgetown University Law Center. She also holds a Ph.D. in history from Yale University.