Pulitzer Prize-winner Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the landmark 1619 Project, will be the joint keynote speaker for the 2021 virtual Media & Civil Rights History Symposium and the College of Information and Communications Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Research Symposium.
The conversation-style presentation will be held Friday, March 26, from noon to 1:30 p.m. The virtual session is free and open to the public but registration is required.
The session is sponsored by the UofSC College of Information and Communications and the UofSC Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Hannah-Jones will be in conversation with Nicole Cooke, Augusta Baker Endowed Chair in Childhood Literacy, and Bobby Donaldson, director of the UofSC Center for Civil Rights History and Research who will engage her in a dialogue about race, social justice, and media. Questions from the audience will also be taken.
Hannah-Jones is one of the most sought-after speakers in the country. A staff writer for the New York Times Magazine, she won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her essay introducing the magazine’s “1619 Project,” which is a multimedia initiative that addresses the legacy of slavery in America and reframes history in the United States from the perspective of the contributions of African Americans.
Her essay is titled "Our Democracy's founding ideals were false when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true."
She is also creator of the project, which also won a George Polk Award. The Pulitzer Prize and Polk awards are two of the highest honors in journalism.
Hannah-Jones has received a number of other awards for her thought-provoking, investigative journalism about segregation in education and housing and governmental policy that contributes to, rather than reduces, racial inequity.
She has been named a Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists, and was among the 100 most influential Black Americans named by The Root in 2020.
In addition to Hannah-Jones’ presentation, the Media & Civil Rights History Symposium will feature a number of other sessions, all of which are free and open to the public.