"Georgia State University historian Harcourt Fuller has spent decades collecting currencies from around the world depicting African, African American, and African diasporic subjects. In 2018, Fuller was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study Queen Nanny of the Maroons, an 18th century Jamaican military leader who is depicted on the Jamaican $500 bill. Not long afterward, he created the Black Money Exhibit, which explores the symbolic intersections of history, imperialism, nationalism, and money.
This short feature of Fuller and his work to develop the exhibit ran in our fall 2020 research magazine--a digital publication focused on highlighting faculty research and scholarship from across the institution. The timing coincided with the Black Money Exhibit's debut as a virtual experience during the pandemic. The story led to a segment on the local public radio station featuring Fuller and his exhibit. The exhibit was also featured in a blog post by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Additionally, Fuller appeared in the media as an expert on the occasion of Maya Angelou becoming the first Black woman to be featured on a U.S. quarter in early 2022."
From the Judges
Judges noted this story's treatment of a subject people know little about (i.e., international currencies) and how it was made interesting and readable through the author's clarity and focus on the multidisciplinary subjects of the piece (history, geography, geopolitics).
