Marcus B. Christian Memorial Prize

Marcus Christian Collection, Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans.

Marcus B. Christian, the renaissance man, climaxed the last seven years of his life as a very popular lecturer in English and History at UNO. A self-taught, printer, itinerant historian and poet, Christian's lack of formal letters limited his brilliant career to self published historical pieces and poems and a massive unpublished History of the Negro in Louisiana. While his earlier contributions to The Jounal of Negro History and Opportunity attested to his scholarly ability, his late “discovery” resulted from a guest appearance at UNO's black history celebration in 1968. Students and faculty alike urged the university to add him to its faculty. He was hired on a part-time basis for one year, but his highly popular courses on African Americans in Louisiana and the Harlem Renaissance continued until 1976, when his teaching career literally ended when he collapsed in his classroom, followed a few days later by his death.

The history department faculty select the award-winning paper each spring semester.

 

Year	Past Recipients
2007	Rachel Wolfe
2006	Christina Patricia Horn
2005	Wallis Olivia Windsor
2004	Henry Louis Conravey III
2003	Henry Louis Conravey III
2002	Melissa Lynn Comardelle
2001	David Gerard Ebert
2000	Leigh Anne Plasse
1999	Cornelia M. O’Sullivan
1998	Timothy Edward Hollis
1997	Wayne A. Jones
1996	Jake Andrew Palumbo
1995	Laura Lillian Sanford
1994	Deborah M. Willoughby
1993	Kellie Claire Reilly
1991	Prakash Balan
1990	Deleen June Davidson
1989	George O’Neil Lawrence
1987	Joseph Ponseti Jr.
1986	Michele Annette Horn
1984	Markus George Klein, Jr.
1983	Emily H. Hohenschutz
1982	Jennifer L. Pendleton
1980	Deborah Lou Faust
1979	Claudia Ann Barker
1978	Gerald Joseph Lawrence
1978	Katherine Ann Martensen
1977	Reid Hardeman Mitchell
1977	Mary Elaine Wagner