SAN FRANCISCO, March 3, 2022 - Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and artivist, picture book author and illustrator Nikkolas Smith discuss their lyrical picture book, The 1619 Project: Born on the Water during a free virtual panel discussion hosted by San Francisco Public Library and San Francisco Unified School District.

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water begins with a Black student who receives a family tree school assignment, and she can only trace back three generations. Her grandma gathers the family and the student discovers not only the history of the enslaved African people, but also their contributions to the United States and about their life, language and land before enslavement. The student learns how her people are people that survived. Through storytelling, poetry and breathtaking art, readers learn more about the consequences of slavery and the history of the contributions of Black resistance.

Nikole Hannah-Jones is a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter covering racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine and creator of the landmark 1619 Project podcast. In 2017, she received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, known as the Genius Grant, for her work on educational inequality. She has also won a Peabody Award, two George Polk Awards, three National Magazine Awards and the 2018 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism from Columbia University. In 2021, she was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people.  

Nikkolas Smith is a Houston, Texas–born Artivist, picture book author, and Hollywood film illustrator. He is the author-illustrator of The Golden Girls of Rio, nominated for an NAACP Image Award, My Hair Is Poofy &That’s Okay and World Cup Women. Many of his viral, globally shared and published sketches are included in his book Sunday Sketch: The Art of Nikkolas.  

EVENT DETAILS

Panel: Nikole Hannah-Jones and Nikkolas Smith, The 1619 Project: Born on the Water

WHEN: Mar. 17, 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

WHERE: Members of the public can tune in live on the San Francisco Public Library’s YouTube channel

INFORMATION: Visit on.sfpl.org/1619