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The Right Coast
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Abby & Steve Thernstrom to Receive Bradley Prize Gail Heriot

By Thomas A. Smith

Yes, I know.  I once wrote a blog post that (mildly) criticized the Bradley Foundation for its annual Bradley Prizes.  And I still believe everything I said in that post (especially the part about the crab cakes being delicious).  But one thing I have to say for the program:  The Bradley Foundation picks great recipients.  The names of Abby and Steve Thernstrom can now be added to the list that includes such notables as Clint Bolick, Ward Connerly, Robby George, Mary Ann Glendon, Leon Kass, Charles Krauthammer, Heather MacDonald, Hernando de Soto, Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele. and George Will.

The Bradley Foundation’s press release described Abby (who is my colleague at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights), Steve and the prize this way:

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation in Milwaukee has announced that one of four 2007 Bradley Prizes to honor outstanding achievement will be awarded to Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom.  Stephan Thernstrom is the Winthrop Professor of History at Harvard University.  His wife Abigail is the vice-chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.  Both are senior fellows at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

The Thernstroms will be presented the award during a ceremony to be held at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, May 3.  Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, Harvard professor Martin S. Feldstein, and one other recipient will also be honored.  Each award carries a stipend of $250,000.

“The Bradley Foundation is honoring Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom for their unwavering commitment to equality,” according to Michael W. Grebe, the Foundation’s president and chief executive officer.  “Their research and their advocacy for equality of opportunity represent a much-needed voice of reason in American discourse.”

Abigail Thernstrom received a Ph.D. from Harvard and was a member of the Massachusetts Board of Education for more than a decade until her term ended in November 2006.  Stephan Thernstrom also holds a Ph.D. from Harvard.  The Thernstroms co-authored the well-received books No Excuses:  Closing the Racial Gap in Learning and America in Black and White:  One Nation, Indivisible.  They are at work on a new book on segregation in America tentatively titled Don’t Call It Segregation:  The Myth of American Apartheid.
Here’s the best way I can describe my feeling about Abby & Steve.  I own quite a few books.  But America in Black and White is the only book I’ve ever purchased four copies of.  Congratulations to them for this well-deserved honor (and to the Bradley Foundation for exhibiting such good taste).