Two Open Letters to the Pulitzer Board and Staff on the Duke Ellington Petition

We're seeing enormous support for the initiative to get Ellington the award he was denied in 1965

I want to thank all of you who signed the petition to get Duke Ellington the Pulitzer Prize he was denied back in 1965. We’ve made extraordinary progress in just a few days.

Below is just a quick update on that matter.

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Here’s the open letter I sent to the Pulitzer Board and staff four days ago, when we had around 10,000 signatures.

And here’s the second open letter I sent today, when we have more than 55,000 signatures.

Feel free to share these widely.

At this point, matters are out of our hands. But regardless of the outcome, we have made our voices heard in a truly historic manner. No matter what the Pulitzer Board does from this point on, its action (or inaction) will be remembered in the future. If they weren’t aware of the potential consequences last week, they certainly must be by now.

If you haven’t signed the petition already, you can do so here. And you can read the entire back story on the 1965 Pulitzer Prize in Music at this link.

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By the way, here’s a list of the Pulitzer Prize Board members for 2021-2022. As far as I can tell, the Board for 2022-2023 hasn’t yet been announced.