Students at the University of Missouri protest the university’s handling of racist incidents, November 9, 2015.(AP Photo / Jeff Roberson, File)
CONTACT: Caitlin Graf, The Nation, press [at] thenation.com, 212-209-5400
New York, NY—May 18, 2018—The Nation, America’s leading source of independent journalism, progressive politics, and culture, today announced the launch of Black on Campus (#BlackOnCampus), an extension of our long-standing commitment to the education, training, and support of student and emerging journalists. Produced in partnership with the Anna Julia Cooper Center of Wake Forest University, Black on Campus is a national program for 10 storytellers—chosen from a pool of more than 100 applicants—in two- or four-year colleges, universities, or graduate schools, working under the direction of Nation contributing editor Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry), founding director of the AJC Center and Maya Angelou Presidential Chair at Wake Forest University, and Dr. Sherri Williams (@SherriWrites), assistant professor in race, media, and communication at American University.
Black on Campus allows participants to develop professional skills as they document the experiences of black college students and report on issues of national consequence to a student audience. For the next several weeks, The Nation will bring you reporting from the talented young writers of the Black on Campus cohort as they follow in the examples of Ida B. Wells and Anna Julia Cooper—righting wrongs by shining the light of truth upon them to reframe our understanding of the political, cultural, and personal implications of race, in pursuit of a better nation.
In her introduction to the series, Harris-Perry discusses “What It’s Like to Be Black on Campus Now.” “Suddenly our experiences no longer seem isolated,” she explains. “They’re linked in a larger movement against institutional racism.” The inaugural essay, by UVA junior Alexis Gravely (@_AlexisWasHere), begins where the academic year began—with racial violence: “At the University of Virginia, Black Students Are Still Recovering From August 11.”
Since January, student writers have met monthly with the Black on Campus journalism squad and traveled to Washington, DC, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. On June 1, they will attend The Nation’s annual Student Journalism Conference at the New School in New York City.
For booking requests or further information, please see contact information above.
About The Nation:
Founded by abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has chronicled the breadth and depth of political and cultural life from the debut of the telegraph to the rise of Twitter, serving as a critical, independent, and progressive voice in American journalism.
About the AJC Center:
The Anna Julia Cooper Center is an interdisciplinary center at Wake Forest University with a mission of advancing justice through intersectional scholarship.
The AJC Center supports, generates, and communicates innovative research at the intersections of gender, race, and place, sustaining relationships between partners on campus and throughout the nation in order to ask new questions, reframe critical issues, and pursue equitable outcomes.
I know that many important organizations are asking you to donate today, but this year especially, The Nation needs your support.
Over the course of 2025, the Trump administration has presided over a government designed to chill activism and dissent.
The Nation experienced its efforts to destroy press freedom firsthand in September, when Vice President JD Vance attacked our magazine. Vance was following Donald Trump’s lead—waging war on the media through a series of lawsuits against publications and broadcasters, all intended to intimidate those speaking truth to power.
The Nation will never yield to these menacing currents. We have survived for 160 years and we will continue challenging new forms of intimidation, just as we refused to bow to McCarthyism seven decades ago. But in this frightening media environment, we’re relying on you to help us fund journalism that effectively challenges Trump’s crude authoritarianism.
For today only, a generous donor is matching all gifts to The Nation up to $25,000. If we hit our goal this Giving Tuesday, that’s $50,000 for journalism with a sense of urgency.
With your support, we’ll continue to publish investigations that expose the administration’s corruption, analysis that sounds the alarm on AI’s unregulated capture of the military, and profiles of the inspiring stories of people who successfully take on the ICE terror machine.
We’ll also introduce you to the new faces and ideas in this progressive moment, just like we did with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. We will always believe that a more just tomorrow is in our power today.
Please, don’t miss this chance to double your impact. Donate to The Nation today.
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and publisher, The Nation
The AJC Center supports a postdoctoral fellowship and undergraduate research; convenes faculty, researchers, and community through seminars and roundtable discussions; and hosts local and national events and residencies. The AJC Center is the administrator of the Collaborative to Advance Equity Through Research.
The Center is named for scholar, educator, and author Anna Julia Cooper, whose pioneering scholarship and activism laid the foundation for black American feminism and insisted on the importance of Southern voices in American politics.
# # #
Press RoomTwitterBig Nation announcements and select interview clips. For media inquiries, booking requests or further information, please contact: Caitlin Graf, VP, Communications, The Nation press [at] thenation.com / 212-209-5400