Jill Nelson (born June 14, 1952) is a prominent

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and novelist. She has written several books, including the autobiographical ''Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience'', which won an

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

. She was Professor of Journalism at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

from 1998 to 2003.Jill Nelson biography
at AALBC.

Biography

Born in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

, Jill Nelson grew up in

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West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham E ...

, spending summers on

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...

. Her brother is filmmaker

Stanley Nelson Stanley Earl Nelson Jr. (born June 7, 1951) is an American documentary filmmaker and a MacArthur Fellow known as a director, writer and producer of documentaries examining African-American history and experiences. He is a recipient of the 2013 N ...

. She graduated from the City College of New York and went on to study at the

Columbia School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism sc ...

. Nelson wrote for the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

Magazine'' at its inception, and was awarded the

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Journalist of the Year for her contributions. Her work has also appeared in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

Ms. Ms. (American English) or Ms (British English; normally , but also , or when unstressed)''Oxford English Dictionary'' online, Ms, ''n.2''. Etymology: "An orthographic and phonetic blend of Mrs ''n.1'' and miss ''n.2'' Compare mizz ''n.'' The pr ...

'', the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

'', ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'', ''

USA Weekend ''USA Weekend'' was an American weekend newspaper magazine owned by the Gannett Company. Structured as a sister publication to Gannett's flagship newspaper ''USA Today'' and distributed in the Sunday editions of participating local newspapers, i ...

'', and

msnbc.com MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

. Nelson wrote the autobiographical ''Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience'' (1993) about her experiences as a black female journalist at the ''Washington Post''. Her 1997 book ''Straight, No Chaser: How I Became A Grown-Up Black Woman'', also autobiographical, discussed role models for black women. Her first work of fiction, ''Sexual Healing'', was published in 2003."Sexual Healing" (review)
''Publishers Weekly'', May 12, 2003.

List of works

*''Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience'' 1993. Hardback ; Softback *''Straight, No Chaser: How I Became A Grown-Up Black Woman''. 1997. *Editor, ''Police Brutality: An Anthology''. 2000. *''Sexual Healing''. 2003. Hardback ; paperback *''Finding Martha's Vineyard: African Americans at Home on an Island''. 2005. *''Let's Get It On''. 2009.

References

External links

African American Literature Book Club. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Jill 1952 births Living people 20th-century American novelists African-American novelists American women novelists City College of New York faculty Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni American memoirists African-American non-fiction writers American women memoirists American women journalists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award winners American Book Award winners Novelists from New York (state) 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people