Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones will present the 2022 Schewel Lecture at the University of Lynchburg. She will speak on “Truth, History, and The 1619 Project” at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 24, at Turner Gymnasium.
The lecture is followed by a Q&A and is free and open to the public. Tickets are required and can be reserved by registering here. On Friday, March 25, there will be an invitation-only breakfast with Hannah-Jones with area school educators and administrators, community leaders, and elected officials.
Hannah-Jones is the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of “The 1619 Project” and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, which published the collection of essays, short stories, and poems in August 2019. The ongoing project, which revisits U.S. history through the lens of slavery, has sparked praise, controversy, and debate.
In her talk at Lynchburg, Hannah-Jones will discuss history, race, and democracy and speak “directly to our current moment,” according to a statement from her publicist.
“Drawing on ideas from ‘The 1619 Project,’ she reframes our understanding of American history, highlights the contributions of Black Americans, and illuminates key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance,” the statement continues.
“Hannah-Jones explores the legacy of slavery in our cultural, political, educational, and legal institutions, and the way it continues to shape contemporary American life. This is a profoundly revealing vision of our country’s past and present.”
Dr. Emma Savage-Davis, dean of the College of Education, Leadership Studies, and Counseling at Lynchburg, looks forward to bringing Hannah-Jones to the University.
“As a child, I always tried to find connections to my country’s history, and how I and my ancestors were a part of that history,” Savage-Davis said. “I grew up with a void in my understanding and a lack of connection to that history.
“Dr. Hannah-Jones and her work informs us of the many facets of American history that focus on racial relations in this country and the history of us, all of us, including the contributions of African Americans. We all want to live in an inclusive society where our contributions, and those of our ancestors, are recognized and valued. The University of Lynchburg stands as an intercessor for knowledge and truth. Please join us at our Schewel Lecture.”
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.
In 2016, she co-founded the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, which seeks to increase the number of reporters and editors of color.
Hannah-Jones also earned the John Chancellor Award for Distinguished Journalism and was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists and the Newswomen’s Club of New York.
In 2020, she was inducted into the Society of American Historians and in 2021 she was named a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She serves as the Knight Chair of Race and Journalism at Howard University, where she is founding chair of the Center for Journalism & Democracy.
For more information about the lecture, please email info.celc@lynchburg.edu.
Masks are required inside all campus facilities.
The annual Rosel Schewel Lecture in Education and Human Diversity is made possible by an endowment established by the late Elliot Schewel in honor of his late wife, Rosel. Rosel, a faculty member in the School of Education and Human Development from 1973 to 1992, served as a mentor, facilitator, and community leader. The purpose of the event, which is open to the campus and greater Lynchburg communities, is to help educate citizens and focus discussion on a topic that is important to all Americans.
