Former AJC reporter wins 2009 Pulitzer

Atlanta journalist Douglas A. Blackmon on Monday won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for “Slavery By Another Name,” which details corporate exploitation of black Americans from the end of the Civil War until the beginning of World War II.

The Wall Street Journal’s Atlanta bureau chief, he is a former Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter.

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Johnny Clark / AP

Atlanta bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal Douglas A. Blackmon in his office Monday after it was announced that he’d won the Pulitzer Prize.

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“I consider myself to be very lucky to be in the company of Hank Klibanoff and Cynthia Tucker and for that matter, Ralph McGill,” Blackmon said, referring to the AJC’s former managing editor, current Washington columnist and the late, legendary editor and publisher of The Atlanta Constitution — all Pulitzer winners. We spoke with Blackmon briefly Monday afternoon, in between congratulatory calls.

Q: Talk about the importance of the subject matter, months after the election of our nation’s first African American president.

A: I hope that the real relevance of the book is to advance the idea that if we really want to understand America in terms of race, we have to be much more honest about the terrible things that were happening in the early 20th century. There are some people out there who are saying, now that we have a black president, we don’t need to argue over the grievances of the past again and again. I don’t think that argument holds much water. Maybe the election of a black president signals we’re in a time now that people are capable of talking about the past.

Q: How does a scholarly work engage readers in the Twitter generation?

A: Even with a really serious book like this, it does sort of demand that you speak through every medium. (You can find Blackmon online at slaverybyanothername.com or join the Facebook group Slavery by Another Name to find out about book signings.)

Q: What’s next?

A: We’ve just begun work on a PBS documentary (based on the book). It should be completed in about a year and a half. I’m also beginning work on a memoir of my childhood in Mississippi.