To: The Wellesley College Community
From: President Paula A. Johnson
Re: Wellesley Welcomes Nikole Hannah-Jones on September 29
Date: August 28, 2020

I am pleased to announce that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and MacArthur Fellow Nikole Hannah-Jones will speak about the legacy of slavery in the United States and the need for racial justice with the Wellesley community on September 29. This event, to be held remotely starting at 6 p.m. EDT, will serve as both the Betsy Wood Knapp ’64 Lecture in the Social Sciences and the Wilson Lecture, two of the College’s premier academic lectures.

Hannah-Jones is the creator of the New York Times major multimedia initiative “The 1619 Project,” which aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the nation’s narrative. She will join Michael Jeffries, dean of academic affairs, for a moderated discussion on the legacy of American slavery and the state of racial justice today, before answering questions from the audience.

In this moment of racial reckoning, when so many Americans are reexamining inequities that have been with us since this nation’s founding, Hannah-Jones’ voice and moral vision are essential. Of “The 1619 Project,” she has said, “There are many different stories that really need to be told so that we can have a fuller version of the American project, and not just one that seeks to glorify us, but really one that seeks to challenge us.”

Hannah-Jones covers racial injustice for the New York Times Magazine and has spent years chronicling the way public policy has created—and maintains—racial segregation in housing and schools. She won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary for her introductory essay in “The 1619 Project” and has earned a Peabody Award, a Polk Award, and a National Magazine Award for her writing about the history of racism, school resegregation, and the decades-long failure of the federal government to enforce the landmark 1968 Fair Housing Act.

Wellesley College students, faculty, and staff must register for the online event. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information about joining the webinar.

The annual Betsy Wood Knapp ’64 Lecture in the Social Sciences and the Wilson Lecture, which will be combined this year, have a long tradition of bringing the world’s most innovative and influential thinkers to Wellesley to discuss the most significant issues of the moment—and this year, that is especially true as we witness what I hope is a powerful political and social awakening around the prevalence of systemic racism and the need for change.

The Knapp Lecture in the Social Sciences is one of the many activities and programs sponsored by the Knapp Social Science Center, established through the generosity of Betsy Wood Knapp ’64. The Knapp Center was developed to integrate the social sciences and serve as a constellation of activity in the social sciences at Wellesley. Its instruction and events connect the intellectual work of social science to its role in the real world. It creates opportunities for students and faculty to conduct social science and interdisciplinary research—both quantitative and qualitative—and to work across department and program lines on issues of common interest.

The Wilson Lecture series, endowed by Carolyn A. Wilson, a journalist and war correspondent and a member of Wellesley’s class of 1910, ensures that generations of Wellesley students are familiar with the most important public figures shaping the events of their time. In 1962, Katherine Anne Porter, best known for her novel Ship of Fools, delivered the inaugural lecture. Over the years, the Wilson Lecture has been given by some of our most innovative and influential thinkers, such as Elie Wiesel, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Toni Morrison, Chinua Achebe, Paul Farmer, William Julius Wilson, and Al Gore, among others.

We are privileged to host Nikole Hannah-Jones for a conversation with Michael Jeffries on one of the most critical issues our nation is facing today.