Emancipation Park Conservancy launches the inaugural Emancipation Conversations lecture series, establishing a forum for transformative conversations surrounding the Black Experience through interactive lectures. Our first lecture features Nikole Hannah-Jones, an award-winning investigative reporter covering racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine and architect of The 1619 Project. The landmark project marks the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first ship carrying enslaved Africans to America. 

This Event is FREE but RSVP is REQUIRED to attend

Invitations and RSVPs are NON-TRANSFERABLE

Sponsored By Shell  

Speaker

Nicole Hannah-Jones
Co-Founder, Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting

Investigative Reporter, New York Times Magazine
Guest Speaker

Nikole Hannah-Jones is an award-winning investigative reporter covering racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine and creator of the landmark 1619 Project. 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, a Polk, National Magazine Award, and the 2018 John Chancellor distinguished journalism award from Columbia University. In 2016, Nikole co-founded the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, a training and mentorship organization geared towards increasing the numbers of investigative reporters of color.

The New York Times' 1619 Project commemorates the 400th year of slavery in what would become the United States by examining slavery's modern legacy and re framing the way we understand this history and the contributions of black Americans to the nation.

 Moderator

Melanie Lawson
Emmy Award-winning Journalist
ABC 13 Eyewitness News

Award-winning journalist Melanie Lawson is a proud Houstonian and a product of Houston schools. She started first as a full-time general assignments reporter at Channel 13, then went on to become the co-anchor of Live at 5 and Channel 13's midday show, Eyewitness News at 11am. Melanie also hosts a weekly Community Affairs program called "Crossroads", focusing on issues and events around our city. Melanie has had a varied and exhilarating stint at Channel 13. She has covered virtually every city, state and national election during her career. She's won numerous awards for her reporting, including an Emmy for her coverage of President Clinton's visit to South Africa, the only local reporter in the nation to make that trip. 

She is on the board of numerous community organizations including the Houston Ballet, SHAPE Community Center, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Volunteer Houston, and the Houston Association of Black Journalists. She also belongs to the Houston Chapter of the Links, Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and the American Leadership Forum. She received her undergraduate degree in Politics from Princeton University and a joint degree in Law and Journalism from Columbia University. Melanie worked at a Wall Street law firm for three years before returning to Houston. She is admitted to both the Texas and New York State Bars.