'I'm still in shock': UT professor emeritus Jacqueline Jones won Pulitzer Prize in History

When Jacqueline Jones came to the University of Texas in 2008 with her husband, she was a professor in the history department, and he taught in government and law.

Ten years later, she started a book exploring the labor struggles of Black workers in Boston during the Civil War. Though she retired from UT in 2021, her work on the book carried on.

On Tuesday, she won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in History for her research.

"I'm still in shock," Jones told the American-Statesman. "It came as a complete surprise."

Jones was the Ellen C. Temple Chair in Women’s History at UT and now holds a professor emerita title in the College of Liberal Arts.

Her book, “No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston's Black Workers in the Civil War Era," examines the challenges Black people in Boston faced during the Civil War era, specifically in relation to labor, which she said hadn't been studied extensively.

2024 Pulitzer Prizes announced: See full list of winners, nominees

"Obviously work is a central lived experience for most of us, and I was curious to see how in this city that prided itself on its militant abolitionists and its egalitarian rhetoric, how Black workers fared in the city," she said. "My finding was that there was a lot of talk about equality, but when it came to justice in the workplace that was certainly missing from the Boston social landscape."

She also looked at the way white people could have been allies, but denied Black people the same employment opportunities, leaving them impoverished. In describing why Black workers were left behind, the book has important context for current economic disparities, she said.

"The effects of these patterns in the mid-19th century are long lasting," she said. "That recognition is key to rectifying these historic injustices."

The Pulitzer Prize staff described the book as a "breathtakingly original reconstruction of free Black life in Boston that profoundly reshapes our understanding of the city’s abolitionist legacy and the challenging reality for its Black residents."

Jones has been a Pulitzer finalist twice and has received numerous awards, such as the MacArthur Fellowship and Bancroft Prize. At UT, she taught courses on the social history of the Confederate States, the country after 1865 and the South.

Ann Huff Stevens, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, said the college is proud of Jones.

"We are extremely proud of Professor Jones and this tremendous achievement," Stevens said. "Her pathbreaking work in American labor history and the African American experience have left an indelible mark on the field and there is no greater recognition than a Pulitzer to cement her place in the canon of historians leading this scholarship.”

Jones now lives in Concord, Mass., near her grandchildren. She is working on another book.

She said she would encourage graduates to have passion in their chosen topics, patience and persistence as they enter the field.

"Being a historian is a rare privilege," Jones said. "I think UT students are really well trained and well positioned for the job market."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: UT Austin professor emerita Jacqueline Jones wins Pulitzer Prize