Show an ad over header. AMP

Creator of 1619 Project to join Howard University after UNC tenure controversy

06 July 2021
Dan Ackermann

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones announced Tuesday that she will not be teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this fall, following a national controversy over an initial decision by the school's board of trustees not to offer her tenure.

The state of play: Hannah-Jones, the creator of the New York Times' 1619 Project about the history of slavery and its lasting impact in the U.S., will be joining Howard University as the tenured Knight Chair in Race and Journalism. Award-winning writer Ta-Nehisi Coates will also join the faculty of the historically Black university.

The big picture: Hannah-Jones and the 1619 Project have been heavily criticized by Republicans, who claim the essay contains historical inaccuracies and undermines patriotism. The project also drew considerable backlash from some prominent historians.

  • In April, UNC's board of trustees set aside Hannah-Jones' tenure application despite recommendations from the school's faculty and administrators. The school announced that it would instead offer her a fixed five-year contract.
  • The decision sparked backlash and a national controversy, with reports emerging that a prominent donor to UNC's journalism school had raised concerns about Hannah-Jones' academic credentials and impartiality.
  • After weeks of public pressure and scrutiny, the board of trustees voted 9-4 in a closed session last week to grant Hannah-Jones tenure. She characterized the initial delay as politically motivated and said it amounted to "illegal discrimination."

What they're saying: "I've spent my entire life proving that I belong in elite white spaces that were not built for Black people," Hannah-Jones said on CBS "This Morning," where she announced the decision.

  • "I got a lot of clarity through what happened with University of North Carolina. I decided I didn't want to do that anymore, that Black professionals should feel free, and actually perhaps an obligation to go to our own institutions and bring our talents and resources to our own institutions and help to build them up as well," she continued.
  • "This is not my fight. I fought the battle I wanted to fight. Which is I deserve to be treated equally and have a vote on my tenure. I won that battle. It's not my job to heal the University of North Carolina. That's the job of the people in power who created the situation."

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Section2

Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.