Education
Emma Lou Thornbrough attended Shortridge High School and Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. She received degrees from Butler University and a Doctor of Philosophy in history from the University of Michigan (1946).
Emma Lou Thornbrough attended Shortridge High School and Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. She received degrees from Butler University and a Doctor of Philosophy in history from the University of Michigan (1946).
She was a pioneer among professional historians who have researched and published in the field of African-American history. Although she wrote numerous scholarly articles and books, the concentration of her work was on Indiana history with a focus on African Americans. Her vast range of interest and expertise is suggested by a selected review of her published works which include Black Reconstructionists, Washington, Blaker: Her Life and Work, Indiana in the Civil War Years, The Negro in Indiana before 1900, Since Emancipation: A Short History of Indiana Negroes, 1863-1963, and T. Thomas Fortune, Militant Journalist.
Thornbrough taught at Butler University from 1946 to1983.
She was also a visiting professor at Indiana University and Case-Western Reserve University. Emma Lou Thornbrough was active in many national and local historical organizations.
She was a past president of the Indiana Association of Historians (IAH). The Thornbrough award given annually to recognize the best article to appear in the Indiana Magazine of History also honors the sisters" contributions to the history profession.
Emma Lou Thornbrough was active in several professional and civil rights organizations.
At the time of her death, Thornbrough had completed all but the last chapter of her book Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century.
While at Butler, she received many awards including the Outstanding Professor Award in 1965, an appointment in 1981 to the McGregor Chair in History, and an honorary doctorate in 1988. Emma Lou Thornbrough received numerous awards from her community including Indiana Author"s Day recognition, Martin Luther King award, Indiana Liberty Bell, Roy Wilkins award, and the Hoosier Historian award.
