In 2020, the ACHA, in partnership with the Cushwa Center at the University of Notre Dame, established the Cyprian Davis, O.S.B., Prize recognizing works in progress that promise to make significant contributions to the study of the Black Catholic experience.

This prize celebrates the life and legacy of Father Cyprian Davis, O.S.B. (1930–2015), a Benedictine monk of Saint Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana, respected academic, and beloved teacher and lecturer. Father Davis served as archivist for the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, of which he was a founding member in 1968. Among his six books, The History of Black Catholics in the United States (Crossroad, 1990) won the John Gilmary Shea Prize for its groundbreaking contribution. Father Davis’ comprehensive history helped restore the stories of Black Catholics to the writing and teaching of U.S. Catholic history and continues to inspire new scholarship on African American Catholicism. 

The center invites applications from scholars of any academic discipline. In addition to receiving a cash award of $1,000, each year’s prize winner is invited to the annual meeting of the American Catholic Historical Association to be recognized along with other honorees of the association.