Howard University, Cathy Hughes School of Communications, Center for Journalism and Democracy

Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, historically Black, research institution, established to educate the formerly enslaved and their descendants. Its journalism program is ranked the best among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States. Howard is home to the newly created Center for Journalism and Democracy, established by Nikole Hannah-Jones, a MacArthur Fellow, renowned investigative reporter, co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, Howard University’s inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Reporting, and creator of the 1619 Project. This flexible award supports the Center for Journalism and Democracy to train generations of Black journalists in the field of investigative and historically informed reporting by offering courses, visiting professorships, fellowships, stipends, archival work and resources, workshops, and symposiums at Howard and across a constellation of HBCUs. The goal is to increase the number of investigative reporters producing historically informed investigative stories on racial inequality and injustice. The Center is also home to a new reparations-focused educational campaign. This effort builds on the 1619 Project, and includes a nationwide media campaign, collaborative projects with reparations organizations, as well as an investigative reporting project on reparations across HBCU journalism programs in the United States.