Showing posts with label Ta-Nehisi Coates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ta-Nehisi Coates. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 06, 2021

Nikole Hannah-Jones and Howard alumnus Ta-Nehisi Coates joining the Howard University faculty

Howard University announced today that Nikole Hannah-Jones and Howard alumnus Ta-Nehisi Coates will join the Howard University faculty. Hannah-Jones will be a tenured member of the faculty of the Cathy Hughes School of Communications, filling the newly created Knight Chair in Race and Journalism. Coates, journalist and author, will be a faculty member in the flagship College of Arts and Sciences. Hannah-Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, will also found the Center for Journalism and Democracy, which will focus on training and supporting aspiring journalists in acquiring the investigative skills and historical and analytical expertise needed to cover the crisis our democracy is facing. The center hopes to work across multiple historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) that offer journalism degrees and concentrations. 

The appointments are supported by nearly $20 million donated by Knight Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation, as well as by an anonymous donor, to support Howard’s continued education of and investment in Black journalists. 

“It is my pleasure to welcome to Howard two of today’s most respected and influential journalists,” said Wayne A. I. Frederick, M.D., MBA, president of Howard University. “At such a critical time for race relations in our country, it is vital that we understand the role of journalism in steering our national conversation and social progress. Not only must our newsrooms reflect the communities where they are reporting, but we need to infuse the profession with diverse talent. We are thrilled that they will bring their insights and research to what is already a world-class, highly accomplished team of professors.

“Further, we are grateful to the Knight, MacArthur and Ford foundations, as well as to an anonymous donor, for their support in our continued efforts to train the next generation of journalists and to provide a diverse pipeline of talent to America’s newsrooms,” said President Frederick.

Hannah-Jones, the creator of the 1619 Project, will be the inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Journalism and will begin her faculty role this Summer. Award-winning author Coates will hold the Sterling Brown Chair in the Department of English and will begin this position following completion of several current obligations.

“I am so incredibly honored to be joining one of the most important and storied educational institutions in our country and to work alongside the illustrious faculty of the Cathy Hughes School of Communications and the brilliant students it draws in,” Hannah-Jones said. “One of my few regrets is that I did not attend Howard as an undergraduate, and so coming here to teach fulfills a dream I have long carried. I hope that the decision that Ta-Nehisi and I made to bring our talents to an HBCU will lead others to make a similar choice.

“We are at a critical juncture in our democracy, and yet our press does not reflect the nation it serves and too often struggles to grasp the danger for our country as we see growing attacks on free speech and the fundamental right to vote,” Hannah-Jones continued. “In the storied tradition of the Black press, the Center for Journalism and Democracy will help produce journalists capable of accurately and urgently covering the challenges of our democracy with a clarity, skepticism, rigor and historical dexterity that is too often missing from today’s journalism. I am so grateful to the Ford, Knight and MacArthur foundations for the initial funding to launch the center and hope to very quickly meet the center’s $25 million fundraising goal.”

“I heard a wise man once say, ‘A man who hates home will never be happy.’ And it is in the pursuit of wisdom and happiness that I return to join the esteemed faculty of Howard University. This is the faculty that molded me. This is the faculty that strengthened me,” Coates said. “Personally, I know of no higher personal honor than this.”

For 50 years, the Howard University School of Communications has trained the nation’s top communicators and media professionals, from award-winning news anchors and journalists to filmmakers, public relations executives and researchers. The school will celebrate its 50th anniversary during the 2021-22 academic year, highlighting its history of disseminating truth through communications and providing community service through storytelling. 

The College of Arts and Sciences (COAS) is at the heart of Howard University, recognized worldwide as a premier, comprehensive research university. COAS is often referred to as the University’s flagship because it is the oldest and the largest of the University’s 13 schools and colleges. Its predecessor was founded in the second year of the University’s existence, and today it enrolls more than 3,000 students – making it the most popular choice among Howard’s undergraduates.

Three foundations and an anonymous donor have contributed nearly $20 million to support the University’s demonstrated academic and journalistic excellence.

Knight Foundation is providing $5 million total to establish an endowment at Howard University to support a Knight Chair in Race and Journalism and to develop symposia, directed by the Knight Chair, to support journalism students and faculty across the network of HBCUs. Howard selected Hannah-Jones as the inaugural Knight Chair.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing a $5 million grant to support the Center for Journalism and Democracy. Up to $1.25 million of the funding will be dedicated to supporting the next phase of the 1619 Project. Hannah-Jones and Coates are both MacArthur Fellows from the class of 2017 and 2015 respectively.

The Ford Foundation will provide $5 million for general operating support for the creation of the center at Howard University, which will be spearheaded by Hannah-Jones. Ford’s funding is designed to support the infrastructure of the center and its programs to help increase the number of Black professionals entering journalism and enhance their career-readiness.

An anonymous donor contributed $5 million to fund the Sterling Brown Chair in English and Humanities and to establish the Ida B. Wells Endowed Fund to support the Knight Chair.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Ta-Nehisi Coates believes Harvard should pay reparations for it's ties to slavery

While giving a keynote address at a conference, entitled “Universities and Slavery: Bound By History” at Harvard University, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates discussed reparations.

Coates, a known proponent of reparations made the case to the audience that progress on racial issues requires institutions to repay their debts to enslaved people.

“I think every single one of these universities needs to make reparations,” he said to wide applause. “I don’t know how you get around that, I just don’t. I don’t know how you conduct research that shows that your very existence is rooted in a great crime, and just say ‘well,’ shrug—and maybe at best say ‘I’m sorry’—and you walk away. And I think you need to use the language of ‘reparation.’ I think it’s very, very important to actually say that word, to acknowledge that something was done in these institutions.”

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Black "Genius Grant" winners

The MacArthur Fellows Program awards unrestricted fellowships (also known as the Genius Grants) to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction. The MacArthur Fellowship is a "no strings attached" award in support of people, not projects. Each fellowship comes with a stipend of $625,000 to the recipient. Of this years 24 winners three were black. Learn more about 2015 MacArthur Fellows, Patrick Awuah, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Latoya Ruby Frazier.

Education Entrepreneur Patrick Awuah, 2015 MacArthur Fellow

Patrick Awuah is an education entrepreneur creating a new model for higher education in Africa that combines training in ethical leadership, a liberal arts tradition, and skills for contemporary African needs and opportunities. Read more: Patrick Awuah

Journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2015 MacArthur Fellow

Ta-Nehisi Coates is a journalist interpreting complex and challenging issues around race and racism through the lens of personal experience and nuanced historical analysis. Read more: Ta-Nehisi Coates

LaToya Ruby Frazier, 2015 MacArthur Fellow

LaToya Ruby Frazier is a Photographer and Video Artist capturing the consequences of postindustrial decline for marginalized communities and illustrating how photography can promote dialogue about historical change and social responsibility. Read more: Latoya Ruby Frazier

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Ta-Nehisi Coates to author 'Black Panther' Marvel comic

The author of Marvel's "Black Panther" comic book series has been unmasked: It's Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Coates, until now, is better known for writing incisive articles for The Atlantic magazine that dissect racism and identity in America, and as the author of the best selling book, "Between The World and Me."

But Coates, a huge Marvel fan, told the New York Times which broke the story, becoming a comic book author is a childhood dream come true.

Instead of culturally charged social issues, Coates will be chronicling the saga of T'Challa, "heir to the centuries-old ruling dynasty of the African kingdom Wakanda, and ritual leader of its Panther Clan," according to Marvel Universe Wiki.

Read more: Ta-Nehisi Coates to author 'Black Panther' Marvel comic