Jelani Cobb in conversation with Celeste Watkins-Hayes

An evening with scholar and journalist Jelani Cobb
in conversation with Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Ford School interim dean

“The Half-Life of Freedom: Notes on Race, Media and Democracy”

6 PM | TUESDAY, JAN. 24, 2023

An in-person event at Rackham Auditorium
915 East Washington Street

Did you miss the in-person event or would you like to watch it again?
Watch the video recording.

Wallace House Presents journalist and scholar Jelani Cobb, in conversation with Ford School interim dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes, as part of the continuing series: “Democracy in Crisis: Views from the Press.” Watch Cobb, dean of Columbia Journalism School and staff writer for The New Yorker, as he examines race, historic challenges to democracy, the impact of the media, and how these inform our current moment.

 

 

About Jelani Cobb

Jelani Cobb is the dean of Columbia Journalism School and a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he writes about race, politics, history and culture. He received a Peabody Award for his 2020 PBS Frontline film “Whose Vote Counts” and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary in 2018. He has also been a political analyst for MSNBC since 2019.

He is the author of “The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress” and “To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic.” He is the editor or co-editor of several volumes, including “The Matter of Black Lives,” a collection of The New Yorker’s writings on race, and “The Essential Kerner Commission Report.” He is the producer or co-producer on a number of documentaries, including “Lincoln’s Dilemma,” “Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union” and “Policing the Police.” 

Dr. Cobb was educated at Jamaica High School in Queens, New York; Howard University, where he earned a B.A. in English; and Rutgers University, where he completed his M.A. and doctorate in American history in 2003. He received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation and the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

 

About Celeste Watkins-Hayes

Celeste Watkins-Hayes is the interim dean of the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and founding director of the school’s Center for Racial Justice. She is also the Jean E. Fairfax Collegiate Professor of Public Policy, University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor, professor of sociology and an Anti-Racism Collaborative research and community impact fellow.

She is an internationally recognized scholar and expert widely credited for her research at the intersection of inequality, public policy, and institutions, with a special focus on urban poverty and race, class and gender studies. Dr. Watkins-Hayes has published two books, numerous articles in journals and edited volumes, and pieces in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Chronicle of Higher Education and Chicago Magazine. She has been widely quoted in the popular press as a national expert on social inequality, HIV/AIDS and societal safety nets.

Dr. Watkins-Hayes holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in sociology from Harvard University and a B.A. from Spelman College, where she graduated summa cum laude.

 

Co-Sponsors
Ford School
Democracy & Debate
Alumni Association
With support from our media partners at Detroit Public Television (DPTV) and PBS Books

 

EXPLORE MORE WALLACE HOUSE EVENTS

Linda Villarosa, New York Times Journalist, on Racial Disparities in U.S. Medical Care

“Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives
and on the Health of Our Nation“

An MLK Symposium event with journalist and educator Linda Villarosa

4:30 PM | TUESDAY, JAN 17, 2023

Annenberg Auditorium, Ford School
735 S State Street | Room 1120

Watch the video recording of the event.

Research and writing about racial health disparities in the United States often focus on poverty and poor education as primary causes for disparate outcomes. Journalist and educator Linda Villarosa says those gaps don’t account for the fact that Black Americans “live sicker and die quicker” than their White counterparts regardless of income and education.  They don’t explain why a Black woman with a college education is more likely to die or almost die in childbirth in the U.S. than a White woman with an eighth-grade education. The under-acknowledged effects of racism, Villarosa argues, have numerous devastating consequences on Black bodies, on the healthcare system, and on the health of our society as a whole. 

Join us as we welcome Linda Villarosa in conversation with Lynette Clemetson, director of Wallace House Center for Journalists, with a special welcome by Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Interim Dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Founding Director of the Ford School’s Center for Racial Justice. 

About the speaker

Linda Villarosa is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine where she covers race, inequality and public health. Her book, “Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation” was named one of the best books of 2022 by The Washington Post, Time Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly and NPR. A journalism professor and program director at the City University of New York, she is a former health editor for The New York Times and former executive editor of Essence magazine. Villarosa has written and led coverage for years on the intersection of race, medicine and social justice. Her work has won numerous awards and has prompted national conversations on topics including black infant and maternal mortality; medical myths tied to race; eugenics; and the disparate toll of pandemics on Black communities from HIV/AIDS to Covid-19. 

About the moderator

Lynette Clemetson is the Charles R. Eisendrath Director of Wallace House Center for Journalists, home of the Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists and the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists at the University of Michigan.

Co-Sponsor:
Center for Racial Justice housed at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

This is a 2023 U-M Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium event.

EXPLORE MORE WALLACE HOUSE EVENTS

Three Newsroom Leaders Appointed to the Livingston Awards National Judging Panel

Newly appointed Livingston Award judges from left to right: Audie Cornish of CNN, Sally Buzbee of The Washington Post and Sewell Chan of The Texas Tribune.

Audie Cornish, Sally Buzbee and Sewell Chan join the Livingston Awards

Wallace House Center for Journalists and the Livingston Awards panel of national judges welcome Audie Cornish of CNN, Sally Buzbee of The Washington Post and Sewell Chan of The Texas Tribune to the Livingston Awards national judging panel. They will join our regional and national judges in identifying the best reporting and storytelling by journalists under 35.

Cornish is an anchor and correspondent for CNN. She hosts the CNN Audio podcast “The Assignment” and appears on CNN covering national, political and breaking news. Before joining CNN, Cornish was the co-host of NPR’s afternoon news program, “All Things Considered.” She began her journalism career with The Associated Press in Boston in 2001.

Buzbee is the executive editor of The Washington Post. She is the first woman to lead the Post’s newsroom. Under her leadership, the organization has created four managing editor roles and added 41 editor positions. Starting with The Associated Press in 1988 as a reporter in Kansas, she served as the organization’s Middle East regional editor, based in Cairo, Washington bureau chief, and executive editor.

Chan is the editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune. Previously he was the deputy managing editor and editorial page editor at the Los Angeles Times. Chan worked at The New York Times as a metro reporter, Washington correspondent, deputy op-ed editor, and international news editor. He began his career as a local reporter at The Washington Post in 2000.

In addition to Cornish, Buzbee and Chan, the national judging panel includes Raney Aronson-Rath, executive producer, “Frontline,” PBS; Matt Murray, editor in chief, The Wall Street Journal; Lydia Polgreen, opinion columnist, The New York Times; María Elena Salinas, contributor, ABC News; Bret Stephens, op-ed columnist, The New York Times; and Kara Swisher, executive producer, Code Conference and host of the podcast “Pivot.” The national judges read all final entries and meet to select the Livingston winners in the local, national and international reporting categories and the Richard M. Clurman recipient, an award honoring a senior journalist for on-the-job mentoring.

As we welcome these three new judges, four of our long-serving national judges will move to emeritus status and continue to serve the Livingston Awards in various capacities. These include our longest-serving Livingston Award judge, Ken Auletta, who joined the judging panel in 1982; Clarence Page, who has been with the Livingston Awards since 1993; and John Harris and Anna Quindlen, who became  Livingston Awards judges in 2009.

The Livingston Awards regional judges read all qualifying entries and select the finalists in local, national and international reporting categories. Their selections move to the national judges for the final round of judging. The regional judging panel includes Molly Ball, national political correspondent, TIME; Stella Chávez, immigration and demographics reporter, KERA Public Radio (Dallas); Chris Davis, deputy for the Local Investigative Reporting Fellowship, The New York Times; David Greene, host, “In the Moment with David Greene,” Religion of Sports and PRX; Stephen Henderson, executive editor, BridgeDetroit; Shirley Leung, associate editor, The Boston Globe; and Amna Nawaz, co-anchor, “PBS NewsHour.”

Now Accepting Entries

The Livingston Awards are now accepting entries for work published in 2022. The entry deadline is February 1, 2023. The deadline to submit a Clurman nomination is March 1, 2023.

This year’s Livingston Award winners will be announced on June 13, 2023, at a ceremony in New York City.

About the Livingston Awards

Livingston Awards honor journalists under the age of 35 for outstanding achievement in local, national and international reporting across all forms of journalism. The awards bolster the work of young reporters, create the next generation of journalism leaders and mentors, and advance civic engagement around powerful storytelling.