Louis R. Harlan, 1922-2010

Louis R. Harlan died on Friday in Lexington, Virginia. His service in World War II was the subject of a memoir, All At Sea. Harlan did his undergraduate work at Emory, earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins, and taught for most of his career at the University of Maryland. A distinguished historian of the modern South, he won the Bancroft Prize twice, the Pulitzer Prize once, and the Albert J. Beveridge Award once for Booker T. Washington: The Making of a Black Leader, 1856–1901 and Booker T. Washington: the Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901–1915. He also edited the multi-volume Washington Papers. Harlan was one of the few historians to have served as president of the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the Southern Historical Association. The fine baggage under his eyes and handlebar mustaches put my own to shame. I miss him already. Thanks to Ted DeLaney for the notice. See also: AHA Today, 25 January.