Darlene Clark Hine

Darlene Clark Hine (born February 7, 1947) is an American author and professor. She is known for her expertise in the field of African-American history.

Darlene Clark was born in Morley, Missouri, the oldest of four daughters of Levester Clark, a truck driver, and Lottie Mae Clark. She married William C. Hine in 1970 and divorced in 1974. She married Johnny E. Brown in 1981 and divorced in 1986 and has one daughter, Robbie Davine.

Hine received her BA in 1968 from Roosevelt University, her MA from Kent State University in 1970 and her PHD in 1975 from the same institution.

From 1972 to 1974 Hine worked as an assistant professor of history and black studies at South Carolina State College, 1974-79 she worked as an assistant professor at Purdue University in Indiana, and 1979-85 an Associate professor.

From 1985 to 2004 Hine served as the John A. Hannah Professor of History at Michigan State University in East Lansing. She helped to establish a new doctoral field in comparative African-American history, one of the first of its kind. She also helped edit a series on African-American history in the United Statesman Milestones in African American History.

Hine wrote three books about African-American women's history. Her book Black Women in Whites was named Outstanding Book by the Gustavus Myers Center Of Study of Human Rights. She edited a two-volume encyclopedia, Black Women in America. Her book A Shining Thread of Hope was favorably reviewed in the New York Times.

Hines' papers are preserved in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University.

Because of her expertise on the subject of race, class, and gender in American society, Hine received the Otto Wirth Alumni Award for outstanding scholarship from Roosevelt University in 1988 and the Special achievement award from Kent State University Alumni Association in 1991. Hine was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Massachusetts in 1998, Amherst from Purdue University in 2002.

In 2010 the inaugural Organization of American Historians presented the Darlene Clark Hine Award for best book in African American Women and Gender History.

Hine was presented with 2013 National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama, for her work on understanding the African-American experience.