Eric Gardner (89) received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for the 2012-2012 academic year.  Eric will use the prestigious fellowship, which includes a $50,400 award, to write a book on the Christian Recorder, a periodical of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.  The Recorder rose to prominence during the Civil War era and was an important outlet for African-American voices.

Eric is a professor of English at Saginaw Valley State University, where he teaches American literature, in particular 19th Century African American literature.  His book Unexpected Places: Relocating Nineteenth Century African American Literature, was named a 2010 Choice Outstanding Academic Title and won the 2010 EBSCOhost/Research Society for American Periodicals Book Prize.