Diane McWhorter facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Diane McWhorter
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| Born | November 1, 1952 (age 72) |
| Occupation | Journalist |
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Rebecca Diane McWhorter (born November 1, 1952) is an American writer and journalist. She is known for her work on race and the history of civil rights in the United States. Civil rights are the basic rights that all people should have, like fairness and equal treatment. Diane McWhorter won the famous Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for her book Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution.
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Early Life and School
Diane McWhorter grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. She went to the Brooke Hill School, which is now called The Altamont School.
One of her classmates in elementary school was Mary Badham. Mary Badham played the character "Scout" Finch in the 1962 movie To Kill a Mockingbird.
Watching To Kill a Mockingbird
When the movie came out, Diane McWhorter and her classmates went to see it on a school trip. She later shared her feelings about watching the film.
She remembered feeling conflicted because the movie showed a Black man being treated unfairly. She said it was "disturbing" to cry for a Black character because of how she had been raised.
Diane McWhorter finished her studies at Wellesley College in 1974.
Diane McWhorter's Career
Diane McWhorter has written a lot about race and the fight for civil rights in the United States. Her book Carry Me Home won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 2002. This award is one of the highest honors for writers in America.
She also wrote A Dream of Freedom, a history book about the civil rights movement for young adults. It was published in 2004.
Writing for Newspapers and Magazines
Diane McWhorter has been a regular writer for The New York Times. She has also written for other well-known publications. These include USA Today, Slate, Harper's, and Smithsonian.
She was once the managing editor for Boston magazine. She is also part of the Board of Contributors for USA Today's Opinion section.
Awards and Fellowships
Diane McWhorter has received many important fellowships and awards. These include a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2009 and the Berlin Prize in 2007.
She has also been a scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center. She was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University.
In 2015, she received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This grant helps scholars write non-fiction books for a general audience. She is also a member of the Society of American Historians.
Current Projects
Currently, Diane McWhorter is working on a new book. It is called Moon over Alabama. This book will explore the story of Wernher von Braun and the US space program in Alabama.
Personal Life
Diane McWhorter married Richard Dean Rosen in 1987. They have two children together.
