On November 11, Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson will speak at the annual dinner and fundraiser for ThreeSixty Journalism, a nonprofit program that trains Minnesota teens from diverse communities in the skills of journalism and publishes their work online and in print.
The youth journalism program celebrates its 10th year at the University of St. Thomas this fall.
Wilkerson, a former New York Times national correspondent and bureau chief, was the first Black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism for her coverage of the floods that ravaged the Midwest in 1993.
Her latest book, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, Wilkerson chronicles the decades-long movement of Blacks out of the Jim Crow South into the North, Midwest and West in search of opportunity and freedom.
The National Book Critics Circle named it the year’s top nonfiction book. The New York Times named it one of the 10 best books of 2010.
In many ways, Wilkerson’s career embodies the goals of ThreeSixty Journalism, which trains and mentors Minnesota teens — particularly minority, immigrant and low-income high school students — who are interested in careers in journalism and communications. Preparing students of color to enter and lead the nation’s communications field is central to the organization’s mission.
WCCO anchor Angela Davis Drew will emcee the event, and “Good Question” reporter Jason DeRusha will host a raffle and auction. Bernadeia Johnson, superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools, will introduce Ms. Wilkerson. Students at ThreeSixty Journalism have interviewed seven diverse immigrants now living in Minnesota, and the evening’s events will highlight these guests and their journeys.
As part of this recognition, ThreeSixty Journalism will honor African American elders Matthew Little, Dr. Annie Baldwin and Betty Ellison-Harpole and share the stories of the segregation they endured in the South, the subtler forms of discrimination they found in Minnesota, and the fight for the civil rights they were part of.
—From a ThreeSixty Journalism release
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