Nikole Hannah-Jones facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nikole Hannah-Jones
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Hannah-Jones in 2018
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Nikole Sheri Hannah
April 9, 1976 Waterloo, Iowa, U.S.
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| Education | University of Notre Dame (BA) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (MA) |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Known for | Investigative journalism, activism |
| Spouse(s) | Faraji Hannah-Jones |
| Children | 1 |
| Awards | MacArthur Fellowship (2017) Pulitzer Prize (2020) |
Nikole Sheri Hannah-Jones (born April 9, 1976) is an American journalist. She is known for her important reporting on civil rights in the United States. In 2015, she joined The New York Times newspaper.
She received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2017. In 2020, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her work on The 1619 Project. Hannah-Jones is now a special professor at Howard University. There, she also started the Center for Journalism and Democracy.
Contents
Early Life and School
Nikole Hannah-Jones was born in Waterloo, Iowa. Her father was African-American and her mother was white. She was the second of three daughters.
Nikole and her sister went to mostly white schools. This was part of a program to help schools become less separated by race. She wrote for her high school newspaper at Waterloo West High School. She graduated in 1994.
After high school, Hannah-Jones went to the University of Notre Dame. She earned a degree in history and African-American studies in 1998. Later, she earned a master's degree in journalism in 2003 from the University of North Carolina.
Journalism Career
In 2003, Hannah-Jones started her career reporting on education. She worked for The News & Observer in Raleigh. She focused on schools with many African-American students.
In 2006, she moved to Portland, Oregon. She wrote for The Oregonian newspaper for six years. She covered different topics, including how populations change and government news.
From 2008 to 2009, she traveled to Cuba. She studied their healthcare and education systems.
In 2011, she joined ProPublica, a non-profit news group. There, she reported on civil rights. She investigated how some housing laws were not being followed for minority groups. She also looked into "redlining," which is when services are unfairly denied to people in certain areas, often based on race.
In 2021, Hannah-Jones became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This is a group that honors important thinkers and leaders.
In 2022, she and a teacher started the 1619 Freedom School in Waterloo, Iowa. This program helps elementary school students with reading. It was inspired by similar schools during the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
Working at The New York Times
In 2015, Hannah-Jones became a reporter for The New York Times. She wrote about important issues like racial segregation. This is when people are kept apart based on their race. She also wrote about how schools were becoming separated again after earlier efforts to mix them.
Her work often shows how laws and actions can lead to unfair treatment based on race. Her reports on racial inequality have been very important. For example, she reported on the school district where teenager Michael Brown was shot. She showed it was one of the most separated and poor districts in Missouri.
In 2017, she received a special award called the MacArthur Foundation fellowship. This award recognized her for "Chronicling the persistence of racial segregation in American society, particularly in education." It also noted how she was "reshaping national conversations around education reform."
The 1619 Project
In 2019, Hannah-Jones started a big project called The 1619 Project. It was launched on the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans arriving in Virginia. The project aimed to change how people understand American history. It put the impact of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the center of the story.
The project included many articles in The New York Times Magazine. It also had poems, short stories, and photos. Hannah-Jones wrote the main essay. She explained that "No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the years of slavery that followed." The project also became a special newspaper section, live events, and a podcast.
In 2020, Hannah-Jones won a Pulitzer Prize for her work on The 1619 Project. The award praised her "sweeping, provocative and personal essay." It said her work helped start important conversations about America's founding and growth.
The 1619 Project was named one of the 10 greatest works of journalism from 2010 to 2019. In 2022, Hannah-Jones won an NAACP Image Award for her book related to the project.
University of North Carolina and Howard University
In 2021, the University of North Carolina offered Hannah-Jones a teaching position. This position usually comes with "tenure," which means a permanent job. However, some groups disagreed with The 1619 Project. Because of this, the university's leaders did not immediately approve her tenure.
Many professors and students at the university were upset. They felt Hannah-Jones was being treated unfairly. Hannah-Jones said she believed the delay was due to political reasons and discrimination. She said she would not take the job unless it included tenure. The university eventually voted to offer her tenure.
However, Hannah-Jones decided not to take the job at North Carolina. Instead, she accepted a tenured position at Howard University. She became the first Knight Chair in Race and Journalism there. She explained that she could not work at a school named after someone who had caused political interference.
She also brought $20 million in funding to Howard University. This money came from several foundations to support her work.
Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting
In 2016, Nikole Hannah-Jones helped start the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting. This group works to support and promote investigative journalism. Investigative journalism is when reporters deeply research a topic to uncover hidden truths.
Personal Life
Nikole Hannah-Jones lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Faraji Hannah-Jones, and their daughter.
Awards and Recognition
- 2013: Sidney Award
- 2015: National Association of Black Journalists, Journalist of the Year
- 2016: George Polk Award, radio reporting
- 2017: MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
- 2019: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Distinguished Alumna Award
- 2020: 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary
- 2021: Time magazine 100 Most Influential People
- 2022: NAACP Image Award Social Justice Impact Award
- 2022: NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction for "The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story"
- 2023: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series for The 1619 Project
Images for kids
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Hannah-Jones in 2018
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Hannah-Jones with attendees after giving a talk in Rochester, New York
See also
In Spanish: Nikole Hannah-Jones para niños
