Slavery scholar Willie Lee Rose dead at 91

Willie Lee Rose, the groundbreaking scholar on slavery and Reconstruction, died in her sleep on June 20, 2018 at a Baltimore retirement community. She was 91. | Johns Hopkins University via AP

NEW YORK — A groundbreaking scholar on slavery and Reconstruction has died. Willie Lee Rose was 91.

Rose died in her sleep June 20 at a Baltimore retirement community, Johns Hopkins University told The Associated Press on Thursday. Rose was known for the 1964 publication, “Rehearsal for Reconstruction,” a prize-winning study of a black community off the Atlantic coast and its struggles to build a post-slavery society.

The book won the Francis Parkman Prize for history among other honors and was cited as among the works that helped lead to a more balanced and positive view of Reconstruction and freed slaves.

In 1970, a committee led by Rose released an influential study condemning gender inequality in the historical profession. She taught at Johns Hopkins from 1973-1992.

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