U of M Doctoral Candidate Earns Gilder Lehrman Fellowship

For release: June 18, 2008
For press information, contact Gabrielle Maxey

Darius Young

“The Gilder Lehrman Fellowship will provide me the opportunity to conduct research at one of the nation’s premier institutions,” Young said. “The Schomburg Center holds manuscript collections of the leading black intellectuals and activists of Church’s era. This will allow me to put Church into the discussion of the African-American leaders who provided the groundwork for the following generation of civil rights activists during the post World War II era.”

During the first half of the twentieth century, Church established himself as one of the most prominent organizers and leaders of the Republican Party. He would also gain national exposure as a social activist who fought to pass legislation that would end racial discrimination, police brutality, lynching, and economic disparities in America. 

Young is one of 20 Gilder Lehrman Fellows for the second half of 2008. The Institute has funded a total of 521 fellowships since 1994.