THE DARYL CUMBER DANCE AWARD
FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

The Daryl Cumber Dance Award for Lifetime Achievement is designed to honor the cumulative scholarly and/or creative output of a member of the College Language Association. Conceptualized in 2009 and officially established in 2011 by Professors Joanne V. Gabbin and Trudier Harris, the award is named after folklorist and literary scholar Daryl Cumber Dance. Her authored books are Long Gone: The Mecklenburg Six and the Theme of Escape in Black Folklore (1987) and The Lineage of Abraham: The Biography of a Free Black Family in Charles City, VA (1998). Her edited books are Shuckin' and Jivin': Folklore from Contemporary Black Americans (1978), Folklore from Contemporary Jamaicans (1985), Fifty Caribbean Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical and Critical Sourcebook (1986), and many more. 

As its founders envisioned, the Dance Award can be given to any member of the Association who, over the course of a minimum of twenty years in the academic profession, has earned a national and/or international reputation for excellence in their area of literary expertise or creativity. The award will be given biennially, and nominations for the award shall be received through the Committee on Awards.

Past Recipients