Lydia T. Black (Russian: Лидия Сергеевна Блэк, romanized: Lidiya Sergeyevna Blek; December 16, 1925 – March 12, 2007) was an American anthropologist.[1] She won an American Book Award for Russians in Tlingit America: The Battles of Sitka, 1802 And 1804. She also received a Historian of the Year award from the Alaska Historical Society.[2]
Lydia T. Black | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 16, 1925 |
| Died | March 12, 2007 (aged 81) |
| Resting place | Kodiak City Cemetery |
| Alma mater | Brandeis University (B.A., M.A., 1971) University of Massachusetts Amherst (Ph.D., 1973) |
| Occupation(s) | Anthropologist, professor, translator |
| Notable work | Russians in Tlingit America |
| Spouse | Igor Black |
Life
editShe grew up in Kyiv. Her father was executed in 1933, and her mother died of tuberculosis in 1941. During World War II, she was sent to a German forced labor camp. After the war, in Munich, she was a janitor. She was enlisted by the Americans as a translator, at the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration displaced children's camp, since she could speak six languages. She married Igor Black, and immigrated in 1950.[3]
She graduated from Brandeis University with a B.A., and M.A. in 1971, and University of Massachusetts Amherst with a Ph.D. in 1973. She taught at Providence College beginning in 1973. She taught at the University of Alaska Fairbanks from 1984 to 1998.[1] She worked translating and cataloging the Russian archives of Saint Herman's Orthodox Theological Seminary, earning the Cross of St. Herman.[4] In April 2001, she, along with fellow anthropologist and historian and close colleague Richard Pierce, historians Barbara Sweetland Smith, John Middleton-Tidwell, and Viktor Petrov (posthumous), was decorated by the Russian Federation with the Order of Friendship Medal, which they received at the Russian consulate in San Francisco.[5]
She is buried at Kodiak City Cemetery.[6]
Family
editShe married Igor A. Black (died 1969), an engineer for NASA contractors; they had four daughters.[7]
Works
edit- Russians in Alaska, 1732-1867. University of Alaska Press. 2004. ISBN 978-1-889963-04-4.
- Nora Dauenhauer; Richard Dauenhauer; Lydia Black, eds. (2008). Russians in Tlingit America. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-98601-2.
- The journals of Iakov Netsvetov: the Yukon years, 1845-1863. Translated by Lydia T. Black. The Limestone Press. 1984. ISBN 978-0-919642-01-0.
References
edit- ^ a b "Lydia T. Black 1925 to 2007 | Biocultural Science & Management". 13c4.wordpress.com. March 12, 2007. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
- ^ "James H. Ducker Historian of the Year - Alaska Historical Society". 7 February 2014.
- ^ "Dr. Lydia T. Black « O\'Folks". Theelderlies.wordpress.com. March 14, 2007. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
- ^ "Kodiak Daily Mirror". Archived from the original on 2005-01-23. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
- ^ "МЫ ВО ВЛАСТИ НАУКИ. На Аляске сохранилась русская "территория"" (in Russian). Obschaia Gazeta. 2001-05-08. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
- ^ "Daily newspaper of Kodiak, Alaska". Kodiak Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
- ^ Alice and Pat Petrivelli (March 2007). "Tribute to Dr. Lydia T. Black". The Aleut Corporation. Archived from the original on 2012-03-17. Retrieved 2012-07-10.