James R. Barrett, an emeritus professor of history and African American studies and a scholar in residence at the Newberry Library, has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois State Historical Society (ISHS). The award honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the collection, preservation and interpretation of an aspect of Illinois history throughout their career.
“With a career spanning more than four decades of distinguished work, Barrett has been a leading force in the excavation and preservation of the working class and immigrant Illinois story,” wrote his nominators.
Born and raised in Chicago, Barrett taught at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for more than thirty years. He is the author of more than forty articles and author or editor of nine books including The Irish Way: Becoming American in the Multi-Ethnic City (Penguin Books, 2012) and From the Bottom, Up and the Inside Out: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity in Working-Class History (Duke, 2017). He is currently working on his next book, Chicago: A Peoples’ History.
Barrett’s teaching and mentorship was also praised by his nominators who described it as “transformative, empathetic, dedicated, and ethical.” He trained 23 graduate students encouraging them to explore all aspects of Illinois history, both in Chicago and downstate.
“His lectures took the opportunity to show how Illinois’s story could contribute to a broad understanding of the nation’s history, and how local stories could amplify the global and vice-versa,” his nominators wrote. “Jim’s research and methodology gave his students a blueprint for working and living in community as an authentic ‘working class intellectual’ and scholar-activist.”
Barrett was honored with the award at the ISHS Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet where he also received a statuette of Abraham Lincoln.