William Shield McFeely (September 25, 1930 – December 11, 2019) was an American historian and educator. In 1982, he won the Pulitzer Prize. He worked at Yale University, the University of Georgia and at Harvard University. McFeely was known for his biographies about Ulysses S. Grant and the Reconstruction era.
Life
He was born in New York City. McFeely studied at Amherst College and at Yale University.
McFeely taught at Yale until 1970, during the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power movements. One of his black students in his class was Henry Louis Gates Jr..
McFeely was known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1981 biography of Ulysses S. Grant. His works also focused on the Reconstruction era, and for the field of African-American history. He retired as the Abraham Baldwin Professor of the Humanities emeritus at the University of Georgia in 1997. He began working for Harvard University in 2006.
McFeely died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis on December 11, 2019 at his home in Sleepy Hollow, New York at the age of 89.
Awards and honors
1982 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for Grant: A Biography
1982 Francis Parkman Prize for Grant: A Biography
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (since 1987) The Lincoln Prize 1991 for Frederick Douglass (based upon the life of Frederick Douglass). 1992 Avery O. Craven Award from the Organization of American Historians.
Some works
Yankee Stepfather: General O.O. Howard and the Freedmen (W. W. Norton, 1968) Grant: A Biography (W. W. Norton, 1981) Frederick Douglass (W. W. Norton, 1990) Sapelo's People: A Long Walk into Freedom (W. W. Norton, 1994) Proximity to Death (W. W. Norton, 2000) Portrait: The Life of Thomas Eakins (W. W. Norton, 2007)