Marcia Chatelain facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Marcia Chatelain
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Born | 1979 (age 45–46) |
Education | |
Awards | Pulitzer Prize for History (2021) |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | University of Pennsylvania Georgetown University |
Doctoral advisor | Mari Jo Buhle |
Marcia Chatelain (born 1979) is an important American professor. She teaches about African American history and studies at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2021, she won a very famous award called the Pulitzer Prize for History. She received it for her book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America (2020). This book explores the history of fast food and its connection to Black communities in America. She also won the James Beard Award for Writing in 2022, making her the first Black woman to achieve this honor.
Marcia Chatelain also started a special online project called the Ferguson Syllabus. This project helped people learn about important events happening in the country. She is also the author of another book, South Side Girls: Growing Up in the Great Migration (2015).
Contents
About Marcia Chatelain
Early Life and School
Marcia Chatelain was born in 1979 in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up in Chicago and went to St. Ignatius College Prep for high school.
She studied at the University of Missouri and graduated in 2001. There, she earned degrees in journalism and religious studies. Later, she continued her studies at Brown University. She earned her master's and Ph.D. degrees in American Civilization in 2008.
After finishing her education, Chatelain became a professor. She taught at the University of Oklahoma and then at Georgetown University. Now, she is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The #FergusonSyllabus Project
In 2014, something very important happened in Ferguson, Missouri. A young man named Michael Brown was killed. After this event, Marcia Chatelain used Twitter to bring together other teachers and experts. She asked them to talk about what was happening in Ferguson with their students. They also created a list of readings and resources together.
This collection of readings became known as the #FergusonSyllabus. It was a big success. It showed how people could work together online to create learning materials. Because of its success, other similar projects have been started to help people understand important national events. In 2016, a major education publication called The Chronicle of Higher Education recognized Chatelain as a top influencer in academics for her work on #FergusonSyllabus.
Her Books
Marcia Chatelain has written two main books:
- South Side Girls: Growing Up in the Great Migration (published in 2015). This book looks at the history of Chicago's Great Migration. It tells the story through the experiences of Black girls.
- Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America (published in 2020). This book explores the history of how fast food restaurants, like McDonald's, became connected to the civil rights movement and Black communities in America.
Awards and Honors
Marcia Chatelain has received many awards for her work. She has won teaching awards at Georgetown University. She was also named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow in 2019.
In 2021, she won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for History for her book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America. For the same book, she also received the 2022 James Beard Foundation Award. This award is very important in the food world. She was the first Black woman to win it for writing.
In 2023, she was nominated to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This is a group that honors leaders in various fields.
Personal Life
Marcia Chatelain is Catholic.