Master of Arts (M.A.)
Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2003
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Faculty
Faculty
Nikole Hannah-Jones
Knight Chair in Race and Journalism
Department/Office
- Media, Journalism, Film & Communication
School/College
- School of Communications
Biography
Nikole Hannah-Jones is the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the 1619 Project and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine. The book version of The 1619 Project as well as the 1619 Project children's book, Born on the Water, were instant #1 New York Times bestsellers. Her 1619 Project is now a six-part docuseries on Hulu.
Hannah-Jones has spent her career investigating racial inequality and injustice, and her reporting has earned her the MacArthur Fellowship, known as the Genius grant, a Peabody Award, two George Polk Awards and the National Magazine Award three times.
She also serves as the Knight Chair of Race and Journalism at Howard University, where she founded the Center for Journalism & Democracy. Hannah-Jones is also the co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, which seeks to increase the number of investigative reporters and editors of color, and in 2022 she opened the 1619 Freedom School, a free, afterschool literacy program in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa. Hannah-Jones holds a Master of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned her Bachelor of Arts in History and African-American studies from the University of Notre Dame.
Education & Expertise
Education
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
History and African-American Studies
University of Notre Dame
1998
Accomplishments
Accomplishments
Emmy Awards, 2024
Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of "The 1619 Project," won an Emmy for the Hulu docuseries, "The 1619 Project," in the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series category.
American Library Association "Notable Children's Book", 2022
The 1619 Project: Born on the Water was recognized as a notable children's book for middle school children in 2022.
NAACP Legal Defense Fund Spirit of Justice Award, 2022
Recognized with the Spirit of Justice Award, in honor of her unflagging courage and fierce dedication to using truth as power throughout her prolific career.
Time Magazine 100 Most Influential People, 2021
Pulitzer Prize, 2020
Nikole Hannah-Jones was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for The 1619 Project, The New York Times Magazine's groundbreaking exploration of the legacy of Black Americans starting with the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in 1619.
Hillman Prize for Magazine Journalism, 2017
Peabody Award, 2016
For her collection of “This American Life” episodes on school segregation called “The Case for School Desegregation Today.”
Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize, 2015
For Distinguished Education Reporting; Hannah-Jones won the Education Writers Association’s Monday night for her examination of the persistence of racial segregation in U.S. schools.
National Association of Black Journalists journalist of the Year, 2015
Columbia University Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award, 2013
Society for News Design Award for Excellence, 2013
Gannett Foundation Innovation in Watchdog Reporting, 2012
C.B. Blethen Memorial Award for Distinguished reporting in the Northwest, 2011, 2012
Featured News
Featured News
The Harvard Gazette | Nikole Hannah-Jones on history, rage — and hope
MSNBC - Velshi | Nikole Hannah-Jones: ‘We are teaching power what it can get away with’
Harper's Bazaar | Why Nikole Hannah-Jones Is Starting a Black Literary Salon
The New Yorker | The Attack on Black History, with Nikole Hannah-Jones and Jelani Cobb
Literary Hub | Nikole Hannah-Jones Reflects on the Most Important Historical Project of Our Generation
MSNBC - Velshi | ‘We are facing an epic battle’: Journalists prepare for second Trump term
Elle | Nikole Hannah-Jones On How To Be Both
Time Magazine | 100 Most Influential People of 2021
Publications and Presentations
Publications and Presentations
How Federal Employees Are Fighting Back Against Elon Musk
How Federal Employees Are Fighting Back Against Elon Musk
Some civil servants are using whatever levers they have to resist the orders of the world’s richest man, both in public and behind closed doors.
Frankie Beverly Created America's No. 1 Cookout Song
The Lives They Lived | Frankie Beverly
How the R&B hit 'Before I Let Go' became an enduring anthem.
How Will White Women Vote? It’s a Question With a Fraught History.
How Will White Women Vote? It’s a Question With a Fraught History.
White and Black women have joined together to power progressive causes — from abolition to civil rights — but it’s a tenuous alliance.
The Willful Amnesia Behind Trump’s Attacks on Harris’s Identity
The Willful Amnesia Behind Trump’s Attacks on Harris’s Identity
Suggesting that there is something contrived about a mixed-race person identifying as Black assumes that the choice wasn’t already made for her.
Howard University Takes an Affirmative Step, All HBCUs Need More Support
Howard University Takes an Affirmative Step, All HBCUs Need More Support
In June, as the nation’s highest court handed down a predictable and yet devastating ruling striking down the use of affirmative action in college admissions, the Center for Journalism & Democracy announced its inaugural Visiting Professorship for Investigative or Data Journalism at Howard University.
The 'Colorblindness' Trap: How a civil rights ideal got hijacked
The 'Colorblindness' Trap: How a civil rights ideal got hijacked
Nikole Hannah-Jones argues that the end of affirmative action marks the culmination of a 50-year campaign to subvert the vision of colorblindness put forth by civil rights activists. This campaign, she writes, transformed a progressive ideal into the rationale for dismantling programs aimed at improving the condition of slavery’s descendants.
From the Magazine: 'It is Time for Reparations'
If true justice and equality are ever to be achieved in the United States, the country must finally take seriously what it owes black Americans.
America Wasn't a Democracy Until Black Americans Made It One
America Wasn't a Democracy Until Black Americans Made It One
Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. lack mericans have fought to make them true
Recent Articles
Multimedia
MSNBC | Trump came right ‘out of the gate’ with a racial agenda—not an economic one
In the decades following Reconstruction, the country experienced The Great Nadir-- a period of racial retrenchment and violent enforcement of white power. America is at an inflection point, warns Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, and faces the risk of slipping into a second Nadir in race relations more than 140 years after the first, which lasted nearly four decades.
DC Public Library | The 1619 Project with Nikole Hannah-Jones at MLK Library
The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning 1619 Project issue reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. Watch this talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning creator, Nikole Hannah-Jones in partnership with Mahogany Books.
All In With Chris Hayes | Nikole Hannah-Jones & Ta-Nehisi Coates: Which Story Will We Tell About America?
“It’s not coincidental that we're having this fight right now over which story we’re going to tell about this country, and the very same people are trying to restrict voting at the polls,” says Ta-Nehisi Coates.
ABC News | ‘1619 tells you more about this country than 1776 does’
ABC News’ Linsey Davis speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones about her new book, “The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story.”
MSNBC - Velshi | 'We can’t be neutral on the idea of democracy'
Moms for Liberty, a right-wing political organization pushing extremist policies under the guise of “parental rights,” lost a majority of its elections across the country Tuesday, as voters rejected book bans and restrictions on what students can learn. Nikole Hannah-Jones, NYT Magazine reporter and creator of the 1619 Project, joined Ali to discuss what these results mean for Americans, and for future elections, ahead of Hannah-Jones’s Center for Journalism and Democracy’s annual Democracy Summit.
Democracy Now! | "No Atonement, No Repair": Nikole Hannah-Jones Calls for Slavery Reparations in Speech to U.N.
In March, the United Nations marked the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of The New York Times's groundbreaking 1619 Project, addressed the U.N. General Assembly. As part of our Juneteenth special, we air her full address.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert | "A Free Society Does Not Ban Books"
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter and creator of The 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones, explains what the project is all about and gives Stephen her take on why 14 states have banned or attempted to ban teaching it in schools.
CBS Mornings | Nikole Hannah-Jones on her new Hulu docuseries, "The 1619 Project"
Hulu's "The 1619 Project" is a six-part docuseries that expands upon "The 1619 Project," created by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times Magazine. Hannah-Jones joins "CBS Mornings" for a closer look at the project and where she sees the current state of race relations in America.
The Daily Show | Why Reparations Are Necessary & What CRT Actually Is
Nikole Hannah-Jones unpacks the necessity of reparations, and sets the record straight on the many misconceptions around The 1619 Project and critical race theory.