{"id":4461,"date":"2026-07-14T13:09:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T13:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461"},"modified":"2026-07-14T13:09:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T13:09:30","slug":"historian-says-its-racist-to-question-her-after-her-book-about-slavery-pulled-from-shelves-over-inaccuracies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461","title":{"rendered":"Historian says it’s racist to question her \u2014 after her book about slavery pulled from shelves over inaccuracies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The author of an acclaimed book about slavery is crying racism after her writing came under scrutiny by scholars for questionable assertions and sloppy sourcing.<\/p>\n

Read more Iran executes 2 Islamic State members convicted of armed rebellion<\/a><\/p>\n

Kerri Greenidge\u2019s 2022 book \u201cThe Grimkes,\u201d which tells the story of a prominent South Carolina slaveholder family who later played a role in the abolitionist movement, was lauded by critics and won the American Historical Association\u2019s Joan Kelly Memorial Prize.<\/p>\n

But skepticism grew as her prose came under the microscope by historians and scholars, including Myra Glenn, an author and retired American history professor at Elmira College.<\/p>\n

In a 2024 examination of \u201cThe Grimkes,\u201d Glenn called it \u201cdeeply flawed,\u201d and called out that Greenidge \u201call too often lacks the evidence to substantiate many of her major claims.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that \u201cher work is also riddled with factual errors and repeatedly omits needed endnotes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Presented with these and other disputed findings discovered through Glenn\u2019s analysis by the New York Times, Greenidge immediately cast herself as the victim, and accused her growing roster of critics of racism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am heartbroken that a field I have given my life to can treat me this way,\u201d she told the outlet. \u201cThe attack on Black women academics is real.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though she claimed to have never plagiarized or fabricated anything, she conceded \u201care there citations that were misattributed? Probably.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resulting firestorm has since seen \u201cThe Grimkes\u201d removed from her author page on the publisher\u2019s website, and her entry as a winner of the Joan Kelly Memorial Prize was absent from the American Historical Association\u2019s homepage.<\/p>\n

She also seems to have lost her job as a tenured associate professor in the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora at Tufts University, a spokesman for the greater Boston school telling the Times that she was no longer employed there.<\/p>\n

Read more Exclusive | How a leaky toilet spiraled into a NYC apartment left in ruins and a 9-year lawsuit seeking $750K in damages<\/a><\/p>\n

The spokesman declined to elaborate on the reason for her departure, however.<\/p>\n

Pressed by the outlet over the accelerating cascade of scrutiny, including her apparent removal from Tufts and the forfeiture of her prizes, Greenidge again claimed it was all the work of anti-black sentiment.<\/p>\n

She accused two senior historians on the university\u2019s peer review panel of being \u201chostile toward black women in academia,\u201d and argued the review process by the school was kicked off by complaints from a white woman scholar. She declined to name any of the individuals in question.<\/p>\n

She even hinted that her race played a part in the lefty New York Times writing about the accusations in the first place.<\/p>\n

Now another one of Greenidge\u2019s books, \u201cBlack Radical,\u201d which also had praise heaped upon it, is now being given a closer look.<\/p>\n

The 2019 biography about journalist and civil rights activist William Monroe Trotter also received a glowing review by the New York Times and won the Mark Lynton History Prize, awarded by Columbia Journalism School and the Nieman Foundation of Journalism at Harvard University.<\/p>\n

Historian and author Stephen Fox, who wrote a biography about Trotter in 1970, said many of Greenidge\u2019s sources cited in the book didn\u2019t match the material when he checked after the book was published.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Then when he heard about the controversy bubbling up over \u201cThe Grimkes\u201d he started questioning her rigor even more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started to think maybe it wasn\u2019t just sloppy,\u201d he told the outlet. \u201cI think it\u2019s something deeper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more CNBC survey mocked after top 10 \u2018worst places to live\u2019 are all red states<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kerri Greenidge, the author of \u201cThe Grimkes,\u201d an acclaimed book about slavery, is crying racism after her writing came under scrutiny by scholars for questionable assertions and sloppy sourcing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"yoast_head":"\nHistorian says it's racist to question her \u2014 after her book about slavery pulled from shelves over inaccuracies - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Historian says it's racist to question her \u2014 after her book about slavery pulled from shelves over inaccuracies - Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kerri Greenidge, the author of \u201cThe Grimkes,\u201d an acclaimed book about slavery, is crying racism after her writing came under scrutiny by scholars for questionable assertions and sloppy sourcing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-14T13:09:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=4461#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=4461\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"headline\":\"Historian says it’s racist to question her \u2014 after her book about slavery pulled from shelves over inaccuracies\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T13:09:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=4461\"},\"wordCount\":623,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=4461#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/4d9e373d47e9692bfe4e30f0701daecf.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"US News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=4461#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=4461\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=4461\",\"name\":\"Historian says it's racist to question her \u2014 after her book about slavery pulled from shelves over inaccuracies - Metro Transit Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=4461#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=4461#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/4d9e373d47e9692bfe4e30f0701daecf.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T13:09:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=4461#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=4461\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=4461#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/4d9e373d47e9692bfe4e30f0701daecf.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/4d9e373d47e9692bfe4e30f0701daecf.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":799},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=4461#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Historian says it’s racist to question her \u2014 after her book about slavery pulled from shelves over inaccuracies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Metro Transit Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Historian says it's racist to question her \u2014 after her book about slavery pulled from shelves over inaccuracies - Metro Transit Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Historian says it's racist to question her \u2014 after her book about slavery pulled from shelves over inaccuracies - Metro Transit Review","og_description":"Kerri Greenidge, the author of \u201cThe Grimkes,\u201d an acclaimed book about slavery, is crying racism after her writing came under scrutiny by scholars for questionable assertions and sloppy sourcing.","og_url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461","og_site_name":"Metro Transit Review","article_published_time":"2026-07-14T13:09:30+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14"},"headline":"Historian says it’s racist to question her \u2014 after her book about slavery pulled from shelves over inaccuracies","datePublished":"2026-07-14T13:09:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461"},"wordCount":623,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4d9e373d47e9692bfe4e30f0701daecf.webp","articleSection":["US News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461","name":"Historian says it's racist to question her \u2014 after her book about slavery pulled from shelves over inaccuracies - Metro Transit Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4d9e373d47e9692bfe4e30f0701daecf.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-14T13:09:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4d9e373d47e9692bfe4e30f0701daecf.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4d9e373d47e9692bfe4e30f0701daecf.webp","width":1200,"height":799},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4461#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Historian says it’s racist to question her \u2014 after her book about slavery pulled from shelves over inaccuracies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/","name":"Metro Transit Review","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/metrotransitreview.com"],"url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}