The U.S. Civil Rights Trail offers a vivid glimpse into the story of Black America’s fight for freedom. From witnessing eye-opening landmarks to celebrating triumph over adversity, experience a tangible piece of history with Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail.
Flexible Itineraries: Travel the entire trail through the South, or take shorter trips with chapters on Charleston, Birmingham, Jackson, Memphis, Washington DC, and more places that were significant to the Civil Rights Movement
Historic Civil Rights Sites: Learn about Dr. King’s legacy at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, be transformed at the small but mighty Emmett Till Intrepid Center, and stand tall with Little Rock Nine at their memorial in Arkansas
The Culture of the Movement: Get to know the voices, stories, music, and flavors that shape and celebrate Black America both then and now
Voices of the Movement: Features activists who were there, such as Diane Nash, Bernard Lafayette, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, James Meredith, JoAnne Bland, Rev. Calvin Woods, several Freedom Riders and Children’s Crusade participants.
Expert Insight: Award-winning journalist Deborah D. Douglas offers her valuable perspective and knowledge, as well as suggestions for engaging with local communities by patronizing Black-owned businesses and seeking out activist groups
Travel Tools: Find tips on where to stay, where to eat, the best local nightlife, and more, plus driving directions for exploring the sites on a road trip, with full-color photos and maps throughout
Detailed coverage of: Charleston, Atlanta, Selma to Montgomery, Birmingham, Jackson, the Mississippi Delta, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Raleigh, Durham, Virginia, and Washington DC
Foreword by Bree Newsome Bass: activist, filmmaker, and artist
Journey through history, understand struggles past and present, and get inspired to create a better future with Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail.
Deadline is a story about a relentless black journalist that struggles through the world’s top journalism school in the midst of racism, politics and corruption in Chicago.
Rudee Brown is a film school reject from Atlanta and graduate journalism student at the fictitious Murphy College Cronkite School of Journalism in Chicago. More than anything in the world, Rudee wants to make his deceased father proud by becoming a journalist.
However, he struggles to balance his father’s wants with his own goals of becoming a successful filmmaker and musician all while struggling through the first quarter of graduate school in Chicago.
Jenna Bourne won two 2020 Suncoast Regional Emmy Awards, in the categories of “Talent – News – Specialty Assignment” and “Politics/Government – News.” This marks the second year in a row she’s won an Emmy in the “Politics/Government – News” category. Jenna is an investigative reporter at 10 Tampa Bay. She hosts, produces, shoots and edits investigative series “What’s Brewing?” on YouTube channel The Deeper Dive.
The coronavirus crisis gets personal with the recently completed COVID-19 Writers Project (C19WP), a multimedia archive by Medill graduate Clara Zawadi Morris.
The COVID-19 Writers Project is a nod to the Federal Writers Project (FWP) conceived by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that produced the Slave Narrative Collection. These first-person narratives are archived in the U.S. Library of Congress and are considered some of the most important historical records to date.
Similarly, C19WP is a hyperlocal examination of the pandemic through first-person narratives (10 videos, and 10 written and photos essays) from inside one of the virus’s early hotspots – Brooklyn, NYC. The COVID-19 Writers project was supported by The National Geographic Society’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund for Journalists, ThePulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and The American Medical Association. From the formerly incarcerated, to the struggling college student to the emergency room doctor, these first-person narratives offer an inside view of the pandemic’s diverse impact on America’s everyday citizens, ultimately helping to answer: What is the crisis telling us about who we are as a society today?
A career marketing leader, Gina Mehmert recently joined the team at Kheiron Medical – a tech startup committed to transforming cancer diagnostics through the power of deep learning – as Vice President of Global Commercial Marketing.
Gina will lead the global launch of the company’s first commercially available product, Mia – a breakthrough AI-enabled solution for breast screening that gives every woman, everywhere a better fighting chance against breast cancer.
“The Kheiron team is filled with incredibly smart, talented, driven people,” Gina said. “The culture here is one of passion and collaboration – and I’m thrilled to bring my marketing superpowers to the team.”
Prior to joining Kheiron, Gina held a variety of senior marketing positions with brand leaders such as GE Healthcare, HP, and Poly. After Medill she received her MBA from the University of Bristol in the U.K.
Domini Torrevillas Suarez died Monday, December 28, 2020, in her hometown of Gingoog, Philippines. She was 80 years old.
Domini was a columnist for the Phillipine STAR. Her column “From The Stands” came out in the newspaper’s opinion section every Tuesday and Thursday. She was a feature writer and editor of Panorama magazine in Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp. from 1961 to 1987 before she joined The STAR as columnist.
Domini attended Gingoog Institute in Misamis Oriental for high school and earned her bachelor’s degree in English at Silliman University in 1961. She attended the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism in 1967. She was awarded Outstanding Sillimanian in the field of Journalism in 1980.
“At the height of martial law, she was … subjected to military threats, harassments and intimidations for her daring reporting,” wrote a classmate of Domini’s.
She is survived by her husband, Saeed A. Daof; son, Andres Torrevillas Suarez; brother, Lemuel Torrevillas; and sister-in-law, Rowena Tiempo.
For decades, the gap between the rich and poor in high-income economies has been expanding, particularly in the United States. The lowest earners were being left behind before COVID-19 hit, but the twin shocks of an acute health crisis and a global recession are widening divisions, raising moral, social, economic, and political challenges.
This longform digital feature studies the rise of inequality over 50 years, how policy failures left millions vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic, and what governments can do to rebuild more equitable societies.
The guide draws together research from the world’s leading experts, covering areas such as tax policy, education and safety net expansion, income support, and health care, building on the groundbreaking 2019 Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) conference, “Combating Inequality,” organized by Olivier Blanchard (PIIE) and Dani Rodrik (Harvard University), and later work from attending experts.
George Vass, 93, of Morton Grove, IL, died on Tuesday, December 29, 2020. He was born in Leipzig, Germany, as a Hungarian citizen on March 27, 1927, to Aloysius and Minna (Blankfield) Vass.
After moving to the United States in 1935, George attended public school in Springfield, IL, graduating from Springfield High School in 1945. He then served in the United States Army for two years. Upon return, he graduated from Washington University in 1950 and received a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University in 1952.
In 1951, George married Theresa Miller, who preceded him in death in 1977. In 1979, he married Joyce Penner, who preceded him in death in 1995. Also preceding him in death were his parents and three brothers: Charles, Samuel and John.
George was managing editor of the National Jewish Post and Opinion from 1935-55, then was an editor and executive sports editor at the Rockford Register Republic from 1955-58. He was a sportswriter at the Chicago Daily News (1958-78; he was the baseball beat writer from 1965-78 and also covered the Bulls and Blackhawks) and Chicago Sun-Times (1979-94).
Upon his retirement from newspaper work, he continued to write books and contribute monthly pieces to Baseball Digest. He also contributed to Hockey Digest. He has written over a dozen books on sports subjects, as well as two historical novels, including Tiberius and Our Norman Slander’d King. George was a devoted and loving father and grandfather.
George is survived by two daughters: Sherry (Vince) Winkler and Cindy (John) Savio; two sons: Kurt (Suzy) Penner and Arnie (Beth) Penner; 10 grandchildren: James (Matt Raskin) Winkler, Tony Savio, Michelle (Mike) Talian, Jack (Sarah Brooks) Savio, Brittany Bennett, Nicolette (Taylor) Cross, Katie Penner, Luke Penner, Kyle Penner and Maggie Penner; and one brother, Joseph Vass.
For all journalists, 2020 was a wild ride. This especially rings true for journalists working at theGrio, a news outlet owned by Byron Allen’s Entertainment studios dedicated to covering and serving Black Americans. Several Medill alumni hold positions on theGrio’s leadership team, and in the chaos of 2020, they feel theGrio’s mission was as crucial as ever.
Vice president of digital content and senior correspondent Natasha Alford (MSJ14).
“There’s been a reckoning with the way that certain communities are covered in the media,” says Natasha Alford (MSJ14), vice president of digital content and senior correspondent at theGrio. “Having a brand like theGrio that’s been around for more than a decade now, that has built trust with the African American community and has deep connections, and can just sort of have a depth in the storytelling is, I think, really important.”
Senior editor Mariel Turner (MSJ15).
Mariel Turner (MSJ15), senior editor at theGrio, says that working in an all-Black newsroom means her voice is always heard. “You know, I think often when I was working at predominantly white outlets, there would be certain public figures … that I would pitch for coverage. And it was often shut down because the people in the room didn’t know the importance of those figures, or they didn’t think that it was relevant to our audience,” she says.
“When [Black journalists] come into the space, there’s certain stories that they’re not going to have to fight for somebody to believe is important, to get the attention that it deserves,” agrees Alford. “But I think the flip side of that is that we are constantly immersed in the trauma of being Black in America. We’re reporting on issues, and we’re experiencing certain issues at the same time.”
Those issues have never gotten more national attention than they did in 2020, with the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and other Black Americans inciting massive Black Lives Matter protests across the nation.
Entertainment director Cortney Wills (BSJ06).
Entertainment director at theGrio Cortney Wills (BSJ06) says that reporting on these killings and their aftermaths as a Black person is a challenge in itself.
“We didn’t have any time to react to these events that had very real emotional, traumatizing effects on us as Black people,” she says. “It really showed me that in order to do this job well, you also have to take care of each other personally and emotionally.”
That emotional support is another way theGrio’s all-Black environment separates it from other newsrooms.
“Being able to work with people that not only empathize with you, but also understand how you feel or how you may not have the capacity to work at a certain level because of everything else that’s happening,” Turner says. “That’s the biggest thing … is just having a little bit more of that family feeling.”
Wills agrees, saying, “I can’t imagine having to do this job at this time, anywhere else.”
To best serve its Black readers, theGrio is very intentional in its news coverage, says Alford.
“When we have certain conversations with families, we’re moving beyond some of the trite narratives, you know, so it’s not about getting a crying mother, or just talking about how sad something is, but we’re focused on asking hard questions about action and organizing and policy change,” she says. “I think in many ways, we’ve been pushing the coverage to move beyond just the obvious of, ‘Is there a problem?’ into, ‘What is the solution?’”
TheGrio’s coverage is also often more nuanced than that of non-specialized media outlets, says Turner, particularly when it comes to police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“[In 2020] with the resurgence [of Black Lives Matter], we really tried to focus on stories that were more special to our community … actually speaking with people in the community, talking to different leadership there and making sure that it was a boots-on-the-ground kind of coverage,” she says. “We really try to give a voice to the people that mainstream media may not feel compelled to talk to or to cover.”
“You know, our first story about police brutality was not Ahmaud Arbery — that probably was not the first one of the week,” says Wills. “I think theGrio never lets up on the things that we are shining a light on and conversations that we are starting.”
Chief content officer Todd Johnson (BSJ07, MSJ08).
In addition to Alford, Turner and Wills, theGrio’s chief content officer Todd Johnson is also a Medill alumnus who received his BSJ in 2008 and his Medill master’s degree in 2009. Alford says she saw his picture in the hall every day while studying at Medill’s Chicago newsroom, and it inspired her to seek a career at theGrio.
“When you see someone, it creates a sense of possibility for you. So me seeing Todd at theGrio made me aware of Black media as an option for me,” she says. “It was not until I went to Medill that it truly crystallized for me what I should be doing with my life.”
TheGrio’s conversations are about so much more than just Black struggles — Black media, Black successes and, above all, Black joy are present in almost everything theGrio produces.
Alford says, “I hope that any journalist, particularly Black student journalists, who are looking for a place and don’t feel like they see that space in the current media landscape — I hope that they know that they can still create their own world, and they can still do impactful storytelling.”
Medill welcomes Penelope “Penny” Muse Abernathy as a visiting professor. Abernathy recently retired from the University of North Carolina Hussman School of Journalism and Media, where she served as the Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics.
“Penny is the nation’s foremost authority on the worsening crisis of local news deserts across the U.S.,” said Medill Dean Charles Whitaker. “Her research has chronicled the growing number of communities with no local news source, and it has brought attention to this critical problem and what it means in a self-governed democracy where citizens need news and information to make informed decisions. Medill is committed to providing news outlets with the tools and insights they need to thrive in their communities, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Penny.”
As a journalism professional with more than 30 years of experience as a reporter, editor and senior media business executive, Abernathy specializes in preserving quality journalism by helping news organizations succeed economically in the digital environment. Her research focuses on the implications of the digital revolution for news organizations, the information needs of communities and the emergence of news deserts in the United States.
“Penny’s arrival will help make Medill the nation’s epicenter for local news research and thought leadership at this critical time for the industry,” says Tim Franklin, Medill senior associate dean, professor and the inaugural John M. Mutz Chair in Local News—a first of its kind chair in the nation. “Penny and her research are constantly quoted by national news outlets and cited by scholars studying the challenge of local news deserts and the implications for society.”
The Medill Local News Initiative launched in 2018 to help bolster the sustainability of local news and foster new business models. Since then, the Medill Spiegel Research Center has mined local news audience data in more than 20 markets, and it’s now creating a new Subscriber Engagement Index to help local news organizations grow reader revenue. In addition, Medill’s Knight Lab has conducted field research of local news readers and non-readers to help inform experiments with new tools and approaches to improve reader engagement. Medill also is starting a new Metro Media Lab to help strengthen local news and high school journalism in Chicago.
“I’m delighted to be joining the critically important Local News Initiative and collaborating with Medill colleagues in their efforts to save local journalism,” said Abernathy. While at Medill, she plans to collaborate with the Local News Initiative and Spiegel Research Center on local news-related projects and research. She’ll deliver presentations and talks at national conferences and at the school. And, she’ll write articles for news outlets and scholarly journals that provide new knowledge on the state of local news.
Abernathy is the author of “News Deserts and Ghost Newspapers: Will Local News Survive?” — a major 2020 report that documents the state of local journalism, what is as stake for our democracy, and the possibility of reviving the local news landscape, and she is the lead co-author of “The Strategic Digital Media Entrepreneur,” which explores in-depth the emerging business models of successful media enterprises.
Her first book, “Saving Community Journalism: The Path to Profitability,” is based on five years of research, involving more than two dozen newspapers around the country. She is also author of two other major reports: “The Expanding News Deserts,” published in 2018, and “The Rise of a New Media Baron and the Emerging Threat of News Deserts,” published in 2016.
