New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones addressed Northwestern University virtually Monday, calling for a more diverse journalism industry and a recognition of Martin Luther King Jr.’s radicalism.
New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones addressed Northwestern University virtually Monday, calling for a more diverse journalism industry and a recognition of Martin Luther King Jr.’s radicalism, as part of the school’s weeklong celebration of the civil rights leader.
Hannah-Jones created the 1619 Project, a journalistic and historical examination of the legacy of slavery, with The New York Times in 2019. King’s legacy in particular has been “whitewashed” by those who ignore his more radical stances on workers’ rights, economic justice for Black people, anti-militarism and anti-capitalism, she said, repeatedly calling for action to enact change.
She said she first encountered African American studies as a student bused out of her neighborhood to a predominantly white high school in Waterloo, Iowa, where she was inspired to write a column for the newspaper about the Black student experience. The 1619 Project’s elevation of certain ideas out of academia and into the public discourse has prompted pushback as it, Northwestern history professor Kate Masur said last week. But this trait is in line with King’s work, Masur said: “Many thought he was moving too fast, was too radical or wasn’t doing it right.”