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Professor and Pulitzer prize winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones joins the Rebuilding Democracy Lecture Series on Oct. 27

October 11, 2022

NIU will welcome Nikole Hannah-Jones, the Pulitzer prize-winning creator of ‘The 1619 Project,’ as the next guest in the Rebuilding Democracy Lecture Series at 4 p.m. CDT Oct. 27.

Nikole Hannah Jones, photo courtesy of James Estrin, The New York Times.

This event, conducted on Zoom, will feature a discussion between Hannah-Jones, Dean Robert Brinkmann and Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Chief diversity officer Vernese Edgehill-Walden on a range of topics including equity in American democracy, the long-term consequences of slavery and segregation, the state of American history education, and the power of journalism to bring change in society. A moderated question and answer session will follow the discussion.

NIU students can gather in the Regency Room of Holmes Student Center to watch the Rebuilding Democracy discussion.

This event is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Academic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and their resource centers, College of Visual and Performing Arts, College of Law, Center for Black Studies, Social Justice Education and the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center.

Advanced registration is required due to limited capacity of 500 seats. Go to http://go.niu.edu/Rebuilding-Democracy-RSVP  to request a link to the event prior to Oct. 27. Event links will be sent from the clas-communication@niu.edu  mailbox one day prior to the event.

Named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, Hannah-Jones serves as the Knight Chair of Race and Journalism at Howard University, where she is founding the Center for Journalism & Democracy.  She also writes for The New York Times Magazine.

Hannah-Jones has spent years chronicling the way official policy has created—and maintains—racial segregation in housing and schools. Her deeply personal reports on the Black experience in America offer a compelling case for greater equity. Her reporting earned her the MacArthur Fellowship, a Peabody Award and two George Polk Awards. She is a three-time winner of the National Magazine Award.

She is editor of ‘The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story,’ which includes essays exploring the legacy of slavery in present-day America, as well as poems and works of fiction illuminating key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. Hannah-Jones won a Pulitzer Prize in 2020 for the project’s opening essay. Library Journal writes, “This invaluable book sets itself apart by reframing readers’ understanding of U.S. history, past and present.” In addition to being an instant #1 New York Times bestseller, it was selected as one of Amazon’s best history books of the year, and soon it will be adapted into a graphic novel and four publications for young readers.

She earned the John Chancellor Award for Distinguished Journalism and was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists and the Newswomen’s Club of New York. In 2020, she was inducted into the Society of American Historians and in 2021 she was named a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2016, Hannah-Jones co-founded the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, which seeks to increase the number of reporters and editors of color. Hannah-Jones is also the founder of the 1619 Freedom School, a free, afterschool literacy program in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa.

The Rebuilding Democracy Lecture Series showcases how the liberal arts and sciences is at the center of a healthy democracy. The Series addresses various aspects of building a stronger democracy and bringing together a fractured society – everything from restoring civility, exploring branches of government, rebuilding our diplomatic and intelligence offices, as well as topical issues such as education, healthcare, media, public health, budget and finance, sustainability/environmental issues, and social justice/human rights.

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Contact: Paula Meyer, Director of Communications and Marketing, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, pmeyer2@niu.edu