This seminar examines the precarious position of immigrant faculty and graduate students within higher education, highlighting the ways threats of deportation and uncertain immigration statuses undermine academic freedom as well as the larger mission of the university as the primary place for advancing knowledge. By focusing on the historical struggles for equity central to Black studies, the seminar offers frameworks for supporting vulnerable scholars and fostering resilient academic communities.

Nikole Hannah-Jones is the Knight Chair in Race and Journalism in the Department of Media, Journalism, Film & Communication at Howard University and the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the 1619 Project.

The Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity is a co-sponsor of The Sawyer Seminar Series, convened by Department of African and African American Studies and the Center for the Humanities.

The series examines how Black studies can help sustain academic freedom and reimagine democratic higher education. The seminar unfolds through a yearlong series of themed conversations that bring together faculty, students, community partners and national leaders. For a full list of programming please visit: