Jessica Krug facts for kids

Jessica Anne Krug (born around 1982) is an American historian and author. She used to teach at George Washington University (GWU) from 2012 to 2020. She became a full professor of history there. She wrote a book called Fugitive Modernities: Kisama and the Politics of Freedom, which was recognized for its importance.

In September 2020, Krug admitted that she had lied about her race and background throughout her career. After this, she left her job at GWU.

Early Life and Education

Jessica Anne Krug grew up in a Jewish family in Overland Park, Kansas. She went to private schools in Kansas City. She first attended the University of Kansas. Then, she transferred to Portland State University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in 2005.

In 2012, Krug earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This university has a very respected program for African history. In 2009, she received a special scholarship called the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, which was worth $45,000.

Krug has mentioned that she faced personal difficulties. She said she started pretending to be a light-skinned person of color when she was young to deal with these challenges.

Her Work as a Historian

Krug taught university classes in the Washington D.C. area. She also lived in East Harlem in New York City. She started teaching history at George Washington University (GWU) in 2012. By 2018, she became a tenured professor, meaning she had a permanent teaching position.

Krug wrote articles and a book about African American history and Latin America. Her essays appeared in Essence magazine and on a website called RaceBaitR. She received financial help from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, which helped her publish her book Fugitive Modernities.

About Fugitive Modernities

Krug's book, Fugitive Modernities: Kisama and the Politics of Freedom, is about the Quiçama people. These people lived in Angola and also in other places, especially Brazil. The book was a finalist for two important awards: the Frederick Douglass Prize and the Harriet Tubman Prize.

In her book, Krug explored how the identity of the Kisama people was formed. Kisama is a mountainous area in Angola. In the late 1500s, it became a safe place for people escaping the Atlantic slave trade. Krug's book was the first history written about the Kisama region. She suggested that Kisama showed a way for people to have kinder relationships, overcoming strict rules set by governments to find shared freedom.

The Controversy About Her Identity

Jessica Krug gave different stories about her race and background. She sometimes said she was half Algerian-American and half German-American. Other times, she claimed to be an Afro-"boricua" (meaning Afro–Puerto Rican) from the Bronx. She even used the name "Jess La Bombalera."

Another scholar noticed that Krug's story about her background kept changing. This information reached Professor Yomaira C. Figueroa-Vásquez, who looked into the matter. She found out that Krug was from Kansas City and had Jewish parents.

On September 3, 2020, Krug wrote a blog post where she admitted the truth. She said: "I have avoided my real life as a White Jewish child in suburban Kansas City by using different made-up identities within a Blackness that I had no right to claim: first North African Blackness, then US rooted Blackness, then Caribbean rooted Bronx Blackness."

Her confession quickly gained international attention. A video of Krug calling herself "Jess La Bombalera" and speaking with a fake Bronx accent became very popular online that same day.

Hari Ziyad, an editor at RaceBaitr, said that Krug only confessed because her lies had been discovered and were about to be made public. Professor Figueroa-Vásquez also believed that Krug's confession was prompted by the upcoming public revelation of her true identity. Figueroa felt that Krug had taken advantage of limited resources and opportunities meant for Black and Latino scholars. She suggested that Krug should make up for what she took. Figueroa and Hunter College's Yarimar Bonilla described Krug's actions as a form of cultural appropriation, like a "minstrel act" where someone makes fun of or pretends to be another culture. Figueroa also noted that Krug had falsely claimed her parents had difficult lives, using harmful stereotypes about Black and Puerto Rican people to create her fake identity.

Duke University Press, which published Krug's book Fugitive Modernities, announced that all money earned from her book would be given to a fund that helps Black and Latino scholars.

Resignation from GWU

Krug had told her colleagues at GWU that she was Afro-Latina. She claimed she grew up in the Bronx with a Puerto Rican mother who had personal struggles. In her classes, she sometimes used a mix of Spanish and English (Spanglish) and spoke about her Puerto Rican background.

After Krug admitted her deception, the history department at George Washington University asked her to resign from her teaching position. They stated that her actions raised questions about the truthfulness of her own research and teaching. GWU canceled her classes after the scandal. On September 9, 2020, GWU confirmed that Jessica Krug had resigned from the university.

See also

• List of impostors