UMass English professor chosen as 2016 Guggenheim Fellow

Nick Bromell is researching the philosophy of Frederick Douglass.
Nick Bromell is researching the philosophy of Frederick Douglass. | File photo
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation recently announced its 2016 Guggenheim Fellows, including University of Massachusetts Amherst English professor Nick Bromell, who is researching the philosophy of Frederick Douglass.

“These artists and writers, scholars and scientists, represent the best of the best,” Guggenheim Foundation President Edward Hirsch said. “Each year since 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has bet everything on the individual, and we’re thrilled to continue to do so with this wonderfully talented and diverse group. It’s an honor to be able to support these individuals to do the work they were meant to do.”

Bromell is one of 178 American and Canadian scholars to be accepted as a fellow this year, chosen from a pool of approximately 3,000 applications. He was also selected as a fellow by the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard.

“This book will take seriously Douglass’ own claim that his philosophy had its origins in his experience of being enslaved,” Bromell said. “What that experience enabled, I believe, is a radically different perspective on all the keywords and ideas of democracy, including freedom, equality, rights, power, law and citizenship. Douglass believed, and I agree, that that perspective had important insights into democracy and politics that all citizens can benefit from.”