In conversation with Mitchell S. Jackson

Keisha N. Blain’s Set the World on Fire, a history of some of the early 20th century’s leading Black nationalist women, won the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Book Prize and was named one of Smithsonian Magazine’s best history books of 2018. With Ibram X. Kendi, she coauthored the #1 New York Times bestseller Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019. An associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh, Blain is an editor for The Washington Post's “Made by History” section and is the president of the African American Intellectual History Society. In Until I Am Free, Blain combines biography and social commentary to share the enduring life and legacy of Civil Rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, and also offers a manifesto for those who wish to continue fighting for racial, voting, and women’s rights.

Mitchell S. Jackson is the John O. Whiteman Dean's Distinguished Professor in the Department of English. Recipient of a 2021 Guggenheim fellowship, Jackson won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing for his article about the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. His debut novel The Residue Years was recognized with a Whiting Award and the Ernest J. Gaines Prize. His nonfiction book, Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family, was named a best book of 2019 by NPR, Time and elsewhere.