(ST. PETERSBURG) Nikole Hannah-Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of The 1619 Project, will speak at The Coliseum in St. Petersburg on Sunday, March 27, 2022, from 4-7 p.m. at a gala fundraiser for the Woodson Warriors Scholarships Fund, hosted by the Woodson African American Museum of Florida.
Now in its fourth year, the Woodson Warriors Scholarship Fund currently supports 30 St Petersburg African American scholars throughout their undergraduate college studies.When 10 more scholars are added this spring, the number will be 40. “The Woodson Warriors Scholarship program is a valuable tool for local African American students to access needed college funds,” said St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch in a statement today. “I’d like to thank the Carter G. Woodson African American History Museum for its leadership on this important cause, as well as Nikole Hannah-Jones for lending her time to support the mission.”
The program on March 27 will also include presentations from several scholars and a ”Bid From the Heart” led by auctioneer Jason Alpert.
Individual tickets $100. To purchase, go to bidpal.net/woodson.About Nikole Hannah-JonesNikole Hannah-Jones won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her work on The New York Times’s The 1619 Project, which, in the words of the Times, aimed “to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States’ national narrative.” A staff writer at the New York Times Magazine, Hannah-Jones has spent her career investigating racial inequality and injustice. Her reporting has earned her the MacArthur Fellowship, known as the Genius grant, a Peabody Award, two George Polk Awards and the National Magazine Award three times. Hannah-Jones also earned the John Chancellor Award for Distinguished Journalism and was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists and the Newswomen’s Club of New York.
In 2020 Hannah-Jones was inducted into the Society of American Historians, and in 2021 she was named a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She also serves as the Knight Chair of Race and Journalism at Howard University, where she is founding the Center for Journalism & Democracy.
In 2016, Hannah-Jones co-founded the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, which seeks to increase the number of reporters and editors of color. She holds a Master of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina and earned her BA in History and African-American studies from the University of Notre Dame.
About the Woodson Warriors Scholarships
In 2019 a silent auction of Jane Bunker’s paintings raised $43,000 for 17 scholars. In 2021, through generous donations and painting sales, $137,000 was awarded to 30 scholars. Bunker’s paintings are currently on view at the Chihuly Museum through April 24, 2022. The artist’s proceeds from sales of these paintings will be donated to the scholars.
In three years this project has grown substantially thanks to contributions from many generous donors — including the Milkey Family Foundation, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Valspar Paint Company, and BayCare Health System.