Genius grant winner Nikole Hannah-Jones set to visit Memphis
Nikole Hannah-Jones, a top-level reporter on school segregation and the winner of a MacArthur genius grant, is coming to Memphis for a public event this week.
The event, called “An Evening with Nikole-Hannah Jones” takes place 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Halloran Centre. That’s at 225 S. Main in Downtown next to the Orpheum. Tickets are $15.
Hannah-Jones has written numerous investigative articles about school segregation and re-segregation. Last year, she was named a winner of a MacArthur Fellowship, often called a genius grant.
The MacArthur Foundation calls the grant “a $625,000, no-strings-attached award to extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential.”
Hannah-Jones is now on leave from The New York Times Magazine to write a book about school segregation. It’s called “The Problem We All Live With,” and named after the Norman Rockwell painting of Ruby Bridges, a young African-American girl who integrated a white school in New Orleans.
The illustration was published in 1964, during a period of official school desegregation. Hannah-Jones says that since then, many schools in the United States have once again become segregated on racial lines.
Court-ordered desegregation has made the South the most integrated part of the United States for AfricanAmerican children, Hannah-Jones said in a phone interview Monday.
“But as these orders are being lifted, you’re starting to see a rapid re-segregation,” she said. “So if we we lose the South on this, we lose a great deal of the progress we’ve made toward integration.”
Schools elsewhere in the U.S. are even more segregated. “The Northeast and Midwest are the most segregated parts of the country for black children,” Hannah-Jones said.
“So overall, if you look at race and segregation, black children today are about as segregated as they were in the early 1970s. So clearly, we’re seeing that go backwards.”
Latinos are likewise facing school segregation, she said. “As their numbers have grown, they’re often segregated in schools with black children, away from white children and away from wealth.”
Hannah-Jones gave the keynote address at last year’s conference of Investigative Reporters and Editors, one of the premier events in the journalism world.
The talk was notable for her call for news organizations to give people from minority groups a chance at jobs: “We don’t need another panel. I’ll solve your newsroom diversity problem in 10 seconds. Hire people of color.”
In Memphis, she will answer questions during an onstage interview conducted by Wendi C. Thomas, leader of the MLK50: Justice Through Journalism initiative.
Thomas said Hannah-Jones’ focus on school segregation is particularly relevant due to Memphis’ educational history, including the recent spinoff of the suburban school systems and current discussion among local officials about increasing education spending.
“I’ve met Nikole before,” Thomas said. “I’ve had the opportunity to hear her speak. I’m really looking forward to hearing her. She’s always candid and direct and I think we need that more than ever.”
Tuesday’s event is part of the Lyceum Mainstage Series, a program of the Center for Southern Literary Arts.
Reach reporter Daniel Connolly at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.