The Quandra Prettyman Prize in Africana Studies honors Professor Quandra Prettyman who embodies intellectual curiosity, generosity of spirit, constant growth, and a belief in the generative power of community. The Prize is awarded to a senior Africana Studies Major, Combined Major, or Minor who exemplifies a scholarly commitment to the field of Africana Studies. Our hope is that recipients of this prize remain as true to their commitment to themselves and to their community, as Professor Quandra Prettyman did throughout her lifetime.

Winners of the Quandra Prettyman Prize

2025: SHAYA GODYCKI & ROSELYN JUMA                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

2024: MAYA DARVILLE 

2023: NAOMI JONES & PHUTHUMILE NXUMALO

2022: AMANDA TAYLOR & MAKEEN ZACHERY 

2021: JAZMIN MACO

2020: JULIA KELLER & INEM RICHARDSON

2019: MEGNOT MULUGETA

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Tribute to Professor Quandra Prettyman by Professor Kim F. Hall, Lucyle Hook Chair, Professor of English Literature and core faculty member of Africana Studies (delivered when Professor Prettyman was honored by the Barnard Organization of Soul Sisters--BOSS--in April 2019).

Even for an English Professor, it’s difficult to put into words Professor Prettyman’s extraordinary nature and the gift she has been to Barnard College. In an early essay, Black feminist theorist bell hooks makes the case for the creation of “homeplace" not as an essential woman’s duty, but as a radical Black feminist practice. She writes, “in our young minds houses belonged to women, were their special domain, not as property, but as places where all that truly matters in life took place – the warmth and comfort of shelter, the feeding of our bodies, the nurturing of our souls. There we learned dignity, integrity of being; there we learned to have faith. The folks who made this life possible who were our primary guides and teachers, were black women.” Many of us are here--and remain here— because Quandra has been our homeplace at Barnard College. Her classes are places that affirm our dignity and integrity. While Higher Education has encouraged all of us to be hurried consumers of knowledge on the way to “the real world,” she insists that we stop and explore, that we learn our history, and then linger in that space between ourselves and the text. Both her actual students and those of us graced with her friendship have been offered the literal comfort and feeding of her home. She embodies what we faculty strive to cultivate in our students— intellectual curiosity, generosity of spirit, constant growth and a belief in the power of community. And she has consistently stepped up  to supply that which the campus could or would not: supporting the growth of the Barnard Center for Research on Women; creating one of the first courses on Minority Women Writers in the country; designing a Literature of the Great Migration course that would serve the Africana major. And she does this all with terrific humor and sly mischief —reminding us that intellectual life, like “regular” life, is meant to be lived with joy as well as purpose. Thank you, Quandra, for being our “homeplace” for all of these years.   

Donations to the Quandra Prettyman Prize can be made in the following ways: 

By Check: 
Make checks payable to Barnard College with a memo line Quandra Prettyman Prize

Barnard College
Box AS
3009 Broadway
New York, NY 10027

By Phone:

Please call 212.870.2520 to make a credit card gift.

ONLINE

1.    Go to giving.barnard.edu

2.    Click "Give Now" in the center of the page or "Give" on the top right corner of the page.

3.    Fill out your donor information & mailing address.

4.    Choose which fund you would like your gift to go towards: Direct my gift to a specific area.

5.    If you selected "Direct my gift to a specific area," indicate the Quandra Prettyman Prize

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Barnard College mourns the passing of Professor Quandra Prettyman, a trailblazer at the college and in the fields of Africana Studies and English Literature.

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Barnard College mourns the passing of Professor Quandra Prettyman, a trailblazer at the college and in the fields of Africana Studies and English Literature. Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Quandra was the daughter of two school teachers. A curious, adventurous child who saw the world as her playground, in her teens she took a road trip from Mexico back to the U.S. with friends of various racial and ethnic backgrounds that created an ongoing commitment to nurturing cross-racial and multi-ethnic communities. After studying history at Antioch College (1950-54) and English at the University of Michigan (1955-57),  Quandra made New York City her home base: she worked in publishing and began teaching while initiating a lifetime of travel abroad, with regular trips to Amsterdam. Her welcoming apartment on the Upper West Side, in which every room was a library, showed her passion for making visible the parts of life buried in archives and books. Quandra herself was living history, often sharing stories of her friendships with luminaries like Coretta Scott King and James Baldwin and teaching newcomers the history of Black Barnard. Her home was a salon where gossip, knowledge, food, and drinks were served in abundance. It was also a haven for friends and students who needed a sudden place to stay or a shoulder to lean on.

 Professor Prettyman joined the Barnard College Department of English in 1970, becoming the first Black faculty member to receive a full-time appointment at the College.  In addition to teaching writing, she created courses new to the College (and sometimes new to the field) such as The Harlem Renaissance; Slavery: the Woman’s Experience, Black and White; Minority Women Writers in the US (Native American, African American, Latina, Asian American); Literature of the Great Migration, and Early African American literature 1760-1890. Her commitment to African American studies and mentorship inspired countless students during her 50-year career as a Senior Associate in English. Even after Professor Prettyman’s official “retirement,” she continued teaching, offering “Explorations in Black Literature: 1760-1890,” as recently as the fall of 2019.  Her innovations were not just in content, but in form; she was often one of the earlier adopters of digital tools for teaching. In addition to teaching, she wrote in a range of genres. A poet since her college days, her work appears in Arnold Adoff’s The Poetry of Black America (1973), among other venues.  She edited Out of Our Lives: A Selection of Contemporary Black Fiction in 1975. Her lifelong interest in cookbooks and recipes led her to publish one of the earliest academic articles on African American Foodways, “Come Eat at My Table: Lives with Recipes” published by Southern Quarterly in 1992. A regular reviewer for Publisher’s Weekly and an ardent consumer of literary and gastronomic magazines, Quandra was one of the best-read members of the faculty and a lifelong example of dedication to and passion for the liberal arts. In 2019, the Africana Studies department created the Quandra Prettyman Prize, given to a graduating senior, who like Quandra, embodies intellectual curiosity, generosity of spirit, constant growth, and a belief in the generative power of community. 

Professor Prettyman passed away on the morning of October 21, 2021. There will be a memorial. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to support the Quandra Prettyman Prize.  Condolence messages can be sent to QuandraPrettyman@gmail.com or to the English Department / Africana Studies Barnard College / 3009 Broadway / New York, NY 10027.