Martha Jones of Johns Hopkins University Wins Los Angeles Times Book Prize

Martha S. Jones, the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and professor of history at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, won the Los Angeles Times Book Award in the history category

Professor Jones was honored for her book Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All (Basic Books, 2020). A critically acclaimed retelling of the history of suffrage in America, Vanguard is a profoundly researched examination of the racism and sexism Black women endured in their pursuit of political participation and power. It also closely examines how Black women used that power to secure equality and representation for others.

The Los Angeles Times Book Prize aims to support new voices and celebrate the highest quality writing. “Reading is solitary but of course it’s communal, too, because in reading we communicate with socially-distanced writers and all their characters, real or invented,” said Times book editor Boris Kachka. “We may isolate, but as long as we have books we are never isolated.”

Professor Jones joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University in 2017 after teaching at the University of Michigan since 2001. She is a graduate of Hunter College of the City University of New York and earned a juris doctorate at the CUNY School of Law. She holds two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University in New York City.