David Blight

5 out of 5

Sterling Professor of History; Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, & Abolition, Yale University

New Haven, CT, USA
Live Event: $5,000 - $10,000 Virtual Event: $5,000 - $10,000 More Fee Info

David Blight Biography

David W. Blight is Sterling Professor of History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. In 2020, Yale President Peter Salovey appointed him as chair of the Yale and Slavery Working Group. With his Working Group colleagues, Blight authored the book "Yale and Slavery: A History," a narrative study of Yale’s historic involvement and associations with slavery and its aftermaths, published by Yale University Press in February of 2024. He is the immediate past president of the Organization of American Historians (2024-2025).

Blight previously taught at North Central College in Illinois, Harvard University, and Amherst College. He is the author or editor of a dozen books, including "Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom"; "American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era"; "Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory"; and annotated editions of Douglass’s first two autobiographies. He has worked on Douglass much of his professional life, and been awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Bancroft Prize, the Abraham Lincoln Prize, and the Frederick Douglass Prize, among others. He writes frequently for the popular press, including the Atlantic, the New York Times, and many other journals.

In 2020 Blight was elected to the American Philosophical Society and awarded the Gold Medal for History by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His lecture course on the Civil War and Reconstruction Era at Yale is available online.

Blight has always been a teacher first. At the beginning of his career, he spent seven years as a high school history teacher in his hometown of Flint, Michigan.

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Speaker profile last updated by AAE Talent Team on 07/10/2025.

David Blight Videos

Live Lecture: Yale Professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Blight

Live Lecture: Yale Professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Blight

Yale Professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Blight will lead a lecture with Wright Tech on Thursday, December 14, 2023, in the Tiered...

David W. Blight, "Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom"

David W. Blight, "Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom"

David W. Blight discusses his book, "Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom", at Politics and Prose on 10/29/18. Blight, the award-winning ...

David Blight - The Civil War in American Memory

David Blight - The Civil War in American Memory

An OAH Distinguished Lecture by David Blight, Class of 1954 Professor of American History and director of the Gilder Lehrman Center at Yale...

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  • What topics does David Blight speak about?

    David Blight is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Anti-Racism, Author, Civil Rights, Government, History, Professors, Social Activism
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David Blight is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics. The estimated speaking fee range to book David Blight for your event is available upon request. David Blight generally travels from New Haven, CT, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Timothy Patrick McCarthy, Peter Boykin, Eric Foner, Nkechi Taifa and Dorothy Roberts. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling David Blight for an upcoming live or virtual event.

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