Vincent Brown, a world-renowned expert on the political dimensions of cultural practice in the African Diaspora, has been named the David Brion Davis Professor of History, effective July 1.
Brown joined Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) this summer after previously serving as the Charles Warren Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University.
His research has a particular emphasis on the early modern Atlantic world. His first book, "The Reaper's Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery" (Harvard University Press, 2008), was co-winner of the 2009 Merle Curti Award and received the 2009 James A. Rawley Prize and the 2008-09 Louis Gottschalk Prize. He is also the author of "Tacky's Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War" (Belknap Press, 2020), co-winner of the 2021 Frederick Douglass Book Prize and Winner of the 2021 James A. Rawley Prize from the Organization of American Historians, among many other awards.
A multimedia historian, Brown is known for his documentary work. He is principal investigator and curator for the animated thematic map "Slave Revolt in Jamaica, 1760-1761: A Cartographic Narrative" (2013), and producer and director of research for the short video series "The Bigger Picture" (2022) for PBS Digital Studios as well as the television documentary "Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness" (2009), which received the 2009 John E. O'Connor Film Award of the American Historical Association, awarded Best Documentary at both the 2009 Hollywood Black Film Festival and the 2009 Martha's Vineyard African-American Film Festival, and broadcast nationally on season 11 of the PBS series Independent Lens. He was executive producer, writer, and host for "How Do You Remember the Days of Slavery?" (2024) and co-founder of Timestamp Media, which explores the history that connects people and places across the world.
He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Mellon New Directions fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim fellowship, and fellowships at the National Humanities Center, the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
Brown received his B.A. from the University of California, San Diego and earned his Ph.D. at Duke University.
