Jean Fagan Yellin's biography of legendary 'Slave Girl' to win $25,000 Frederick Douglass Prize.

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A long-awaited biography of Harriet Jacobs, who wrote the 1861 classic "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," is the winner of the annual Frederick Douglass Book Prize, it was announced recently by Yale University's Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition.

Jean Pagan Yellin, Distinguished Professor Emerita at Pace University, was awarded the prize for her book "Harriet Jacobs: A Life," which covers the experience of this once-forgotten but remarkable woman who lived 29 years as a slave, seven of which were spent in a cramped hiding place that kept away a sexually predatory master. Yellin's book explores beyond Jacobs' own autobiography and traces Jacobs' escape north, the harassment she endured by her former owner, and her return south during the Civil War to establish a school for Black refugees behind Union lines.

The $25,000 annual award for the year's best non-fiction book on slavery, resistance and/or abolition is the most generous history prize in the field, and the most respected and coveted of the major awards for the study of the Black experience. The prize was awarded at a gala dinner at the Yale Club of New York on February 24, 2005, as the capstone of Black History Month.

Richard Gilder and Lewis Lehnnan, the philanthropists who endow the Frederick Douglass Prize, noted: "Jean Fagan Yellin's extraordinary book â€" capping a brilliant career of scholarship â€" provides painful insight into the tragic history of racial and sexual oppression in America. For this reason alone, every modern American should read it, learn from it, and make sure the bitter lessons of the past inspire a better future for men and women, white and black. We are honored indeed to honor Dr. Yellin with the 2004 prize."

David W. Blight, director of the Gilder Lehrman Center, commented: "Jean Yellin's biography of Harriet Jacobs has been eagerly anticipated by scholars and readers for almost 20 years. To say that the result more than justifies the wait would be an understatement. This book is an extraordinary example of historical detective work, as well as a powerful piece of literature."

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): DOUGLASS AWARD â€" Philanthropists Richard Gilder (left) and Lewis Lehrman are shown as they presented the 2004 Frederick Douglass Prize Medallion and $25,000 cash award to Jean Fagan Yellin for "Harriet Jacobs: A Life," the story of the woman who wrote the 19th century classic "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," at the gala dinner at the Yale Club on February 24, opposite Douglass photo. The prize is given annually by the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery and Abolition at Yale University.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): HARRIET JACOBS