Linda Heywood facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Linda Heywood
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Heywood in 2016
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| Born | 1945 (age 79–80) |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Professor |
| Spouse(s) | John Thornton |
| Awards | 2008 Herskovits Prize (with John Thornton) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Boston University |
Linda Marinda Heywood is a well-known historian and professor. She was born in Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago in 1945. Professor Heywood teaches about African American studies and history at Boston University.
Before joining Boston University in 2003, she taught at Howard University. She worked there from 1984 to 2003.
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What Linda Heywood Studies
Professor Heywood is an expert in African history. She is especially interested in the country of Angola. Her first major book, Contested Power in Angola, was about the history of kingdoms in Angola. It covered their journey from being independent to becoming part of a colony. This book also looked at Angola's fight for freedom and its civil war.
Learning About the African Diaspora
While teaching at Howard University, Professor Heywood studied the African diaspora. This term refers to people of African origin living outside of Africa. Her research led to important books like Central Africans and Cultural Transformations. She also wrote Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles and the Foundation of the Americas.
A Book About a Warrior Queen
Professor Heywood has always been interested in the life of Queen Njinga. Njinga was a powerful queen from Angola. This long-term interest led her to write the book Njinga of Angola in 2017.
Education and Awards
Linda Heywood earned her first degree, a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), from Brooklyn College. She then went on to get her Ph.D. from Columbia University.
In 2008, she received a special award called the Herskovits Prize. She shared this award with her husband, John Thornton. They won it for their book, Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles, and the Foundation of the Americas, 1585-1660. In 2020, she was chosen to be part of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This is a very respected group of scholars.
Books by Linda Heywood
Here are some of the books Professor Heywood has written or helped to write:
- Contested Power in Angola, 1840s to the Present. University of Rochester Press, 2000.
- Central Africans and Cultural Transformations in the American Diaspora. Cambridge University Press, 2001. (She was the editor and wrote parts of this book.)
- Central African, Atlantic Creoles, and the Foundation of America 1585-1660. Cambridge University Press, 2007. (Written with John Thornton.)
- Njinga of Angola: Africa's Warrior Queen. Harvard University Press, 2017.
