About the Author

Nikole Hannah-Jones at a Glance

Full Name: Nikole Hannah-Jones

Pronunciation: nih-KOHL HAN-uh JOHNZ

Born: September 11, 1957

Nationality: United States

Education:

• University of Notre Dame (BA, History and African American Studies)
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (MA, Mass Communication)

Genres:

• Investigative journalism

Biography & Background

Nikole Hannah-Jones Biography

Born in Iowa, Nikole Hannah-Jones showed aptitude for investigative journalism at a very young age. Her first letter to the editor was published when she was just 11 years old, and she later dedicated her efforts at her high school newspaper to reporting on the experiences of fellow students participating in a voluntary school desegregation program. After earning a BA in history and African American studies and an MA in mass communication, Hannah-Jones spent three years covering resegregation issues at the majority-Black public schools in Durham, North Carolina. Her work consistently focuses on addressing racial injustice and highlighting the marginalized aspects of history.

This deeper goal fueled the work that galvanized her career. She went on to become a well-established and successful investigative reporter for The New York Times Magazine, and earned a Pulitzer Prize for her work on The 1619 Project, an anthology that recontextualizes US history to emphasize the accomplishments and contributions of Black citizens, thereby challenging the traditionally colonialist narratives that dominate history books. The first iteration of The 1619 Project originally appeared in New York Times Magazine, but the project soon gained momentum and was adapted into a six-part docuseries on Hulu. Its spirit and goal have since been transformed into a school curriculum, allowing students to continue the process of recontextualizing history and challenging dominant narratives.

Fun Facts About Nikole Hannah-Jones

• Nikole Hannah-Jones founded the Center for Journalism & Democracy at Howard University and cofounded the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting.
• In 2021, Hannah-Jones published a children’s book, Born on the Water, which was honored as Best Children’s Book by Time Magazine.
• Curricula based upon The 1619 Project has been utilized in over 4,500 classrooms since August 2019.

Nikole Hannah-Jones’s Awards & Honors

• 2014 — Online Journalism Award for Explanatory Reporting
• 2015 — National Awards for Education Reporting: First Prize for Beat Reporting
• 2015-2017 — National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence Award
• 2020 — Pulitzer Prize for Commentary (The 1619 Project)
• 2023 — Critics’ Choice Awards for Best Limited Docuseries (The 1916 Project)
• 2024 — Television Academy Honors (The 1619 Project)

Interviews & Podcasts

Hear from Nikole Hannah-Jones in her own words.

Interviews with Nikole Hannah-Jones

_{C-SPAN: BOOK TV}

After Words with Nikole Hannah-Jones (November 8, 2021)

Hannah-Jones discusses The 1619 Project and its origins in her reporting on racial inequality. She explains the project’s ambition to reframe US history around the legacy of slavery, offering a personal and intellectual look at the work’s development.

_{OPRAH DAILY}

Oprah and Nikole Hannah-Jones Discuss the Ongoing Impact of The 1619 Project (January 25, 2023)

This in-depth conversation with Oprah explores how Hannah-Jones’s educational experiences led her to question dominant historical narratives. She offers reflections on resistance to the project and the role of truth in civic transformation.

Podcasts with Nikole Hannah-Jones

_NPR

Nikole Hannah-Jones on Turning The 1619 Project into a Docuseries (January 22, 2023)

Speaking with NPR, Hannah-Jones shares how Hulu’s adaptation of The 1619 Project allowed her work and message to reach new audiences. She explains the power of storytelling in audiovisual forms and why centering Black voices matters now more than ever.

_{FRESH AIR}

How the Systemic Segregation of Schools Is Maintained by “Individual Choices” (January 16, 2017)

Hannah-Jones joined the Fresh Air podcast to discuss educational inequality and housing policy. The episode breaks down how individual decisions contribute to systemic injustice in schools, linking personal responsibility to broader structural forces.

Nikole Hannah-Jones Quotes

I see my work as forcing us to confront our hypocrisy, forcing us to confront the truth that we would rather ignore.

— Nikole Hannah-Jones (Author Website)

White Americans desire to be free of a past they do not want to remember, while Black Americans remain bound to a past they can never forget.

— The 1619 Project (2019)

If we are truly a great nation, the truth cannot destroy us.

— The 1619 Project (2019)

I was bused to white schools, and my high school offered a one-semester, Black Studies elective. And that class changed my life. […] I came across the date 1619 […]. That date stood both for a legacy and a lineage that Black people had been here even before the Mayflower in 1620, and yet every child learns about the Mayflower, but the White Lion in 1619 had been completely erased from our national story. So I feel like so much of my journalism has been about trying to show the way this hidden history, hidden-in-plain-sight history, is shaping our society, whether we grapple with it or not.

— interview with Oprah (Oprah and Nikole Hannah-Jones Discuss the Ongoing Impact of The 1619 Project, 2023)

The 1619 Project is answering that question every Black person gets, which is “Slavery was a long time ago—why don’t you get over it?” So I wanted to create a project that showed, how do you get over something that is as foundational to your society as anything can be foundational?

— interview with Oprah (Oprah and Nikole Hannah-Jones Discuss the Ongoing Impact of The 1619 Project, 2023)

I knew there would be resistance, and I knew there would be criticism and critique, and frankly, there should be. […] This was an ambitious project. We were attempting to make an evocative argument, and, obviously, the reason the project exists in the first place is we have not wanted to grapple with this past.

— interview with Oprah (Oprah and Nikole Hannah-Jones Discuss the Ongoing Impact of The 1619 Project, 2023)

Notable Works by Nikole Hannah-Jones

Aside from The 1619 Project, Hannah-Jones is best known for her award-winning journalism. Below are several standout articles that reflect her contributions to public discourse on race, policy, and historical truth.

_{NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE}

The “Colorblindness” Trap: How a Civil Rights Ideal Got Hijacked (March 13, 2024)

This feature unpacks how the concept of colorblindness has been weaponized to undermine affirmative action and racial justice efforts. Hannah-Jones critiques the ideology’s misappropriation and reframes what equity truly means and demands.

_{NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE}

What Is Owed (June 30, 2020)

Hannah-Jones combines moral argument, historical context, and present-day urgency in this powerful call for reparations. This article draws on personal and national history to argue that the United States cannot achieve racial justice without restitution.

_POLITICO

A Letter from Black America (March/April 2015)

Published in Politico Magazine, this personal essay addresses the racial dynamics of police violence and the erosion of trust between law enforcement and Black communities. It remains a resonant piece in Hannah-Jones’s body of work.

Authors Like Nikole Hannah-Jones

Ida B. Wells

Recommended Read: The Red Record (1895)

A pioneering work of investigative journalism, The Red Record documents the horrors of lynching in post-Reconstruction America. Wells’s fearless reporting laid the foundation for modern racial justice narratives, making her a direct influence on Hannah-Jones.

Explore the full breakdown with SuperSummary’s study guide. 

Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes, and Dawud Anyabwile

Recommended Read: Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice (2022)

This graphic memoir recounts track athlete Tommie Smith’s iconic protest at the 1968 Summer Olympics and the lifelong activism that followed. Like Hannah-Jones’s work, the memoir emphasizes personal experience as a window into understanding racial injustice more broadly.

Uncover more about this book with SuperSummary’s study guide.

George Takei

Recommended Read: They Called Us Enemy (2019)

Takei’s memoir in graphic novel form recounts his childhood in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II. This narrative of state-sanctioned injustice and memory aligns with the themes of truth-telling central to The 1619 Project.

Ready to dig in? Check out SuperSummary’s study guide.

Follow Nikole Hannah-Jones

Connect with Nikole Hannah-Jones on the following platforms:

• Author Website: https://nikolehannahjones.com/
• Instagram: @nikolehannahjones
• Bluesky: @nhannahjones.bsky.social
• Email: nhannahjones@nytimes.com