Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Sign up for our newsletter

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • 1 in 4 parents report being fired for work interruptions due to child care breakdowns

        Chabeli Carrazana · February 2
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
      • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

        Candice Norwood · July 20
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: What we know about Brittney Griner’s case and what it took to get her home

        Candice Norwood, Katherine Gilyard · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why the Respect for Marriage Act doesn’t codify same-sex marriage rights

        Kate Sosin · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why baby formula is still hard to find months after the shortage

        Mariel Padilla · December 1
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Election workers believe in our system — and want everyone else to, too

        Barbara Rodriguez, Jennifer Gerson · November 8
      • Voter ID laws stand between transgender people, women and the ballot box

        Barbara Rodriguez · October 14
      • Emily’s List expands focus on diverse candidates and voting rights ahead of midterm elections

        Errin Haines · August 30

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News from reporters who represent you and your communities.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Nikole Hannah-Jones speaking at a podium.
Nikole Hannah-Jones speaks on stage during the 137th Commencement at Morehouse College on May 16, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images)

Education

‘Build up our own’: Nikole Hannah-Jones on choosing Howard University

In a conversation with The 19th, the creator of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 Project said it was time to “bring my talents home.”

Mariel Padilla

General Assignment Reporter

Mariel Padilla portrait

Published

2021-08-19 12:09
12:09
August 19, 2021
pm

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

In the two years since her Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 Project was published, Nikole Hannah-Jones said she has experienced the lowest moments of her career — and the highest.

“It’s one of those cases where something really beautiful came out of something really ugly,” Hannah-Jones said at The 19th Represents Virtual Summit. “And I just feel like going to Howard is where I was supposed to be all along.”

Just last month, the New York Times journalist declined a tenure offer from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, her alma mater, after experiencing pushback from conservatives and the board of trustees. Hannah-Jones had been named to a position that typically came with tenure, but the board initially only offered her a five-year contract, sparking outcry from faculty and placing the award-winning journalist in the crosshairs of a national culture war. Despite UNC’s eventual tenure offer, Hannah-Jones ultimately decided to join Howard University as the inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Journalism. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

In a conversation with The 19th’s Editor-at-Large Errin Haines, Hannah-Jones talked about her plans for Howard University, the meaning of true representation and the urgency of this moment.

“At some point, instead of always working at a place that’s in opposition to you, we can go and build up our own,” Hannah-Jones said. 

Howard and the more than 100 other historically Black colleges and universities have operated under the belief that Black excellence is a norm and Black scholarship matters, Hannah-Jones said. 

Stories by experienced reporters you can trust and relate to.

Delivered directly to your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

“Centering Black Americans is critical to our understanding of any field of academia that you would want to go in,” she said. “And I just thought it was time in my career to bring my talents home. … Choosing to go to Howard will help other Black people know that actually one of our greatest callings is building our own institutions.”

In the fall, Hannah-Jones said she plans to launch the Center for Journalism and Democracy in her new academic position. The aim will be to strengthen investigative reporting and history-infused reporting at Howard University and other HBCUs with journalism programs.  

She also spoke about the difficulties of rising professionally as a Black woman, an identity that is often doubly marginalized at the intersection of race and gender. Black women, she emphasized, should go where they are valued when they can. 

“We cannot reach our full potential as journalists, as career women, as human beings if we’re constantly working at institutions that are battling us — where we’re not feeling respected, where we’re being stifled, where we’re being questioned and doubted,” Hannah-Jones said. 

Though anti-Blackness and structural racism are not new, she said, the United States is in a critical moment. It is still reeling from a pandemic that disproportionately impacted people of color and a mass movement against police killings of Black people. 

“Journalism is the firewall of our democracy,” Hannah-Jones said. “And I don’t think we have enough urgency in those who are covering the politics of our day around what is actually occurring.” 

Hannah-Jones warned that our democracy is facing a “frightening period” — in part as a reaction to the election of Barack Obama, the country’s first Black president, which contributed to the election of a White nationalist president. Then, spurred by the false assertion that the 2020 election was “stolen” from former President Donald Trump, many Republican-controlled states have passed laws limiting when and where people can vote. The battle over voting rights continues to be waged in Congress and state legislatures across the country.

It’s all connected, Hannah-Jones said. 

When the New York Times published the 1619 Project in August 2019, Hannah-Jones said she expected pushback but could not have anticipated the magnitude of the backlash. Trump threatened to defund schools that implemented the project into curriculum. The former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo publicly criticized it. Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican in Arkansas, introduced a bill this year in Congress to prevent elementary and secondary schools from receiving federal funds to teach the project. And several state legislators across the country are still trying to ban the project and other teachings about racism in classrooms. 

The journalist became a symbol — admired by some, despised by others. 

“I read the things that people say,” Hannah-Jones said. “It’s not just attacking my work, but my ethics as a journalist, my skills as a journalist and then also my humanity. I get some of the vilest, most threatening emails I’ve ever received in a 20-year career.” 

And it took a toll. 

Hannah-Jones said she looks to history to remain motivated in her work. She looks to Black journalists, like Ida B. Wells and Ethel Payne, who faced attacks without the backing of powerful institutions. 

“In the end, I just do the work,” Hannah-Jones said. “I just read more. I study more. I try to take my vengeance out in the pen.”

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Help sustain what we started

Your monthly investment is critical to our sustainability as a nonprofit newsroom.

Donate Today

Become a member

Up Next

Participants in The 19th's

Race

The women of the Daily Show know when to make you laugh

Correspondents Dulcé Sloan and Desi Lydic joined The 19th and some of the women running the show behind the scenes for a conversation about how they bring humor to the country’s biggest problems.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram