Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson to receive
honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree May 17
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson to receive honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree May 17
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from 51³Ô¹ÏÍøas part of the University's 99th Commencement ceremony at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 17, 2014, in Moody Coliseum.
 Isabel Wilkerson |
While writing for The New York Times, Wilkerson became the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism and the first African-American, male or female, to win the Pulitzer for individual reporting. Her award-winning book, The Warmth of Other Suns, is a definitive history of the Great Migration of African-Americans from the rural South to urban centers in the North and West.
For her achievements as a journalist and contributions to understanding of the African-American experience, 51³Ô¹ÏÍøwill confer upon Wilkerson the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
Wilkerson will participate in a symposium from 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Friday, May 16, in the Pavilion of the Annette Caldwell Simmons Hall, 3101 University Boulevard on the 51³Ô¹ÏÍøcampus. The event is free and open to the public.
The symposium, “Literature for Real: Journalism, the American Canon, and the Evolving American South,” will include keynote speaker Farah Jasmine Griffin, professor of English/Comparative Literature/African American Studies, Columbia University, and author of Who Set You Flowin’? and Harlem Nocturne.
A discussion will include remarks from Wilkerson and feature panelists:
- Ta-Nehisi Coates, senior editor of The Atlantic Monthly and author of The Beautiful Struggle
- Brittney Cooper, assistant professor of women’s and gender and Africana studies, Rutgers University, and columnist for Salon.com
- Daina Ramey Berry, associate professor of history, University of Texas at Austin, and author of Swing the Sickle for the Harvest is Ripe
- Walton Muyumba, associate professor of English at the University of North Texas and author of The Shadow and the Act: Black Intellectual Practice, Jazz Improvisation, and Philosophical Pragmatism
- Moderator Karen Thomas, 51³Ô¹ÏÍøprofessor of practice in journalism and writer for The Dallas Morning News.
# # #