Literature

Nikole Hannah-Jones

Born April 19, 1976 · Waterloo, Iowa

The journalist who created the 1619 Project — Nikole Hannah-Jones reframed American history by placing slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the national story.

Known For

The 1619 Project

Award

Pulitzer Prize for Commentary

Role

Knight Chair at Howard University

Nikole Hannah-Jones grew up in Waterloo, Iowa, one of few Black students in her school, and was bused across town as part of a voluntary desegregation program. That experience — being both a participant in and product of America's ongoing struggle with race — shaped her life's work.

After studying journalism at Notre Dame and UNC Chapel Hill, she spent her career investigating racial inequality in housing, education, and criminal justice. Her reporting earned recognition from the National Magazine Awards and the MacArthur Foundation.

In 2019, she created The 1619 Project for The New York Times Magazine, reframing American history around the date when the first enslaved Africans arrived on American soil. The project won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary and ignited a national debate about how America tells its own story. In 2021, she chose to join Howard University rather than accept a tenured position at UNC, bringing her talents to the nation's most prestigious HBCU.