Gretchen Gerzina | |
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Born | 1950 (age 74–75) Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. |
Other names | Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina |
Occupation(s) | Historian, author, academic |
Notable work | Black England: Life Before Emancipation |
Spouse | Anthony Gerzina |
Children | 2 |
Website | gretchengerzina |
Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina (born 1950) is an American author and academic who has written mostly historically-grounded biographical studies. She has written about Black British history. [1] [2] Her academic posts have included being the Kathe Tappe Vernon Professor of Biography at Dartmouth College, working as a professor at Vassar College, being a professor and a director of Africana Studies at Barnard College, and as of April 2019 being the Dean of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Commonwealth Honors College. [3] Gerzina was the host of WAMC's nationally-syndicated radio program The Book Show for fourteen years, where she interviewed authors. [4]
In the UK, she presented a 10-part documentary for BBC Radio 4 called Britain's Black Past, [5] which she subsequently adapted into a book. [6] [7]
She was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, just before she was five years old. [4] She is married to Anthony Gerzina and they have two sons. [4]