New York, NY -- Saidiya Hartman is a Class of 2019 MacArthur Fellow. She is 58 and a professor of Comparative Literature and English and Women's and Gender Studies.
The 26 fellows, widely known as MacArthur "geniuses", receive 625, 000 dollars over the course of five years to fund their groundbreaking work in whatever capacity they see fit.
Hartman's work encompasses a wide range of disciplines, but is particularly concentrated on slavery, its' legacy, the lives of "ordinary" black women.