91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn

Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting moving from UNC to Morehouse College

File photo of Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, who co-founded the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting in 2016. The society is moving from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to Morehouse College in Atlanta.
Alice Vergueiro

A society for training investigative journalists of color is moving from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to Morehouse College in Atlanta.

New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones co-founded the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting in 2016. At the time, it was located at City University of New York. It moved to UNC three years later.

The move to Morehouse “helps our young organization settle more deeply into our mission, which is to increase the number of investigative reporters of color," Hannah-Jones said in a statement. "Being located on the campus of a historically Black college located in Atlanta in proximity to other HBCUs and coming to Morehouse just as it gets its journalism major off the ground provides a tremendous opportunity for us to increase our impact on the field and society."

The Society will officially launch on Morehouse’s campus during an on-campus ceremony on Thursday, Feb. 16 with Hannah-Jones, other journalists, students, faculty, and staff.

Hannah-Jones, creator of the 1619 Project, was almost hired by UNC's Journalism school in 2021. But she declined the offer, after it took months for the board of trustees to approve her tenure request and raised questions about her academic qualifications. She reached a settlementwith the university last year.


Editor’s Note: WUNC’s Board of Directors is appointed by the UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees. WUNC maintains editorial independence in all news coverage, including stories involving UNC.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Bradley George is WUNC's AM reporter. A North Carolina native, his public radio career has taken him to Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville and most recently WUSF in Tampa. While there, he reported on the COVID-19 pandemic and was part of the station's Murrow award winning coverage of the 2020 election. Along the way, he has reported for NPR, Marketplace, The Takeaway, and the BBC World Service. Bradley is a graduate of Guilford College, where he majored in Theatre and German.
More Stories
  1. Wider count reveals higher homeless population in Asheville-Buncombe as new workgroup is elected
  2. Planned Parenthood plans 'unprecedented' $10M North Carolina campaign as abortion battles loom
  3. More than 900,000 NC households to lose affordable internet if federal funding is not renewed
  4. BizWorthy: If you’ve been placing sports bets in North Carolina, you might get a higher tax bill
  5. NC Gov. Cooper calls for education funding as legislature opens session