Quincy Newell
The American Council of Learned Societies has awarded a research fellowship to Quincy Newell, associate professor in the University of Wyoming Religious Studies Program.
The fellowship, one of 64 awarded to scholars based in the United States and abroad, will support Newell's research project, "Marginal Mormons: African Americans and Native Americans in the 19th Century LDS Church."
"African Americans were denied access to the temple ceremonies that Mormons believed were necessary to reach the highest degree of glory after death; Native Americans, according to Mormon beliefs, were the descendants of ancient Israelites whose conversion was a necessary precursor to Jesus' second coming," Newell writes. "This study places the experiences of 19th century African American and Native American Mormons alongside one another to show the specific ways in which racial/ethnic identity, gender, and religious experience shaped one another."
The ACLS Fellowships support individual scholars working in the humanities and related social sciences. The goal is for awardees to produce a major piece of scholarly work.
A specialist in American religions, Newell joined the UW faculty in 2004 after earning a Ph.D. degree at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
