Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah
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Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah (born 1982) is an American essayist. She won a
Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Journalism. It has been awarded since 1979 for a distinguished example of feature writing giving prime consideration to high lite ...
in 2018 for her profile of white supremacist and mass murderer
Dylann Roof Dylann Storm Roof (born April 3, 1994) is an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and mass murderer convicted of perpetrating the Charleston church shooting on June 17, 2015, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. During a Bible study at Em ...
, as well as a
National Magazine Award The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...
. She was also a National Magazine Award finalist in 2014 for her profile of elusive comedian
Dave Chappelle David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...
. Her first book, ''The Explainers and the Explorers'', is forthcoming from
Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
.


Early life

Ghansah spent her early childhood in
Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...
, then moved to
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
in elementary school. She attended
Greene Street Friends School Greene Street Friends School is a coeducational school under the care of Green Street Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Located in Germantown, Philadelphia, Greene Street serves 320 students in grades Pre-K to 8. History In ...
. Her mother's family is from Louisiana—Ghansah’s maternal grandmother moved from Louisiana to live with them in Philadelphia while Ghansah was growing up—while her father is Ghanaian, with Fanti and Ga family, although his mother moved to London in the 1920s. Ghansah’s mother is a professor.


Career


Early career and education

Early in her career, Ghansah worked for Rich Nichols and
The Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...
as well as
dream hampton Dream Hampton (stylized as dream hampton) is an American filmmaker, producer, and writer. Her work includes the 2019 Lifetime documentary series ''Surviving R. Kelly'', which she executive produced, and the 2012 '' An Oversimplification of Her B ...
;
Tariq Trotter Tariq Luqmaan Trotter (born October 3, 1973), better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, actor and the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group the Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove (Ahmir Thompson). Regarded a ...
(Black Thought) was an early mentor in her writing career, giving her practical advice while still a teenager about getting a thesaurus and building a vocabulary. She credits her time working with rappers for teaching her cadence. She then became a public school teacher, but eventually returned to writing, becoming the first African-American intern at ''
Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
''. She graduated from
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
's MFA program in writing in 2011, and has taught at Columbia University,
Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...
, and
Eugene Lang College Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, commonly referred to as Lang, is the seminar-style, undergraduate, liberal arts college of The New School. It is located on-campus in Greenwich Village in New York City on West 11th Street off 6th Avenue. H ...
.


Journalism

Ghansah has drawn particular recognition for her longform profiles of subjects such as
Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his progressive musical styles and socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generat ...
(in the
Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...
),
Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1, 1971), better known as Missy Elliott or Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She embarked on her music career with R&B girl group Sista in the earl ...
,
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved fame as part of the graffiti duo SAMO, alongside ...
,
Chirlane McCray Chirlane Irene McCray (born November 29, 1954) is an American writer, editor, and activist. She is married to former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and had been described as de Blasio's "closest advisor." She chaired the Mayor's Fund to Adva ...
, and
Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, '' The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' S ...
—which ''
Flavorwire ''Flavorwire'' is a New York City-based online culture magazine. The site includes original feature articles, interviews, reviews, as well as content recycled from other sources. ''Flavorwire'' describes themselves as "a network of culturally co ...
'' recommended as "necessary, even recuperative"—as well as essays on
Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...
's fans,
Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
's
Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten we ...
, and
James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; ...
's historic home in southern France. Her Baldwin essay was anthologized in ''
The Best American Essays ''The Best American Essays'' is a yearly anthology of magazine articles published in the United States.Robert Atwan (ed.), Adam Gopnick (guest ed.). ''The Best American Essays 2008'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. It was started in 1986 and is ...
'' series for 2017 as well as the 2016 Baldwin-inspired collection, ''The Fire This Time''; 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 ...
'',
Dwight Garner Dwight Garner (born January 8, 1965) is an American journalist and longtime writer and editor for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, he was named a book critic for the newspaper. He is the author of ''Garner's Quotations: A Modern Miscellany'' and ...
described Ghansah's contribution as "alive with purpose, conviction, and intellect" and one of the "five excellent reasons to buy this book." In a review of that same collection for ''New York Review of Books'',
Darryl Pinckney Darryl Pinckney (born 1953 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American novelist, playwright, and essayist. Early life Pinckney grew up in a middle-class African-American family in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he attended local public schools. H ...
, wrote that, "Baldwin didn't want to be ichardWright's heir, any more than Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah wanted to be Baldwin's." Her writing has earned praise from ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', and '' Brooklyn Magazine'' whose editors wrote that "if we wanted to compile a reading list of the best journalism in the last couple of years, we'd begin with basically all the work of Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah." KQED has called Ghansah "one of the most brilliant essayists writing in America today." Longreads described her as being "an unparalleled architect of the profile. She can strike an ideal balance between scene and exposition, lyricism and plot. She can bring a subject to life with fresh insight, and keep herself in the narrative in a way that is unobtrusive and necessary." And in a 2016 ''
Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...
'' UK feature, " Zadie Smith On The Young Writer Who Teaches Her Everything," novelist Smith said Ghansah "always understood that to make your writing stand out online you just need to write better than everyone else. And she does." In 2014, Ghansah's profile in '' The Believer'' of elusive comedian
Dave Chappelle David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...
was a
National Magazine Award The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...
finalist and collected in 2014 edition of ''
The Best American Nonrequired Reading ''The Best American Nonrequired Reading'' was a yearly anthology of fiction and nonfiction selected annually by high school students in California and Michigan through 826 Valencia and 826michigan. The volume was part of '' The Best American Seri ...
'' as well as ''The Believer''s anthology ''Read Harder'' (2014). Writing in the ''New York Times'', Evan Hughes reviewed her essay's appearance in that collection as "more forceful work ... searching profile." ''New York'' called her Chappelle essay a "classic." The critic Stephanie Fields later wrote that, those early "profiles established not only her nuanced style of long form writing with extensive bibliographies, but a context for black art and black life. A consistent theme of Ghansah's work is how black artists have shaped their own narratives through an exertion of autonomy not usually afforded to black people. She then weaves those threads of resistance into the larger tapestry of black history." For the
MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; ...
, in 2018, Ghansah curated a PopRally event entitled "Woman's Work" a celebration of black womanhood and black female genius that featured the work of
Julie Dash Julie Ethel Dash (born October 22, 1952) is an American film director, writer and producer. Dash received her MFA in 1985 at the UCLA Film School and is one of the graduates and filmmakers known as the L.A. Rebellion. The L.A. Rebellion refers ...
, Kandis Williams, and
dream hampton Dream Hampton (stylized as dream hampton) is an American filmmaker, producer, and writer. Her work includes the 2019 Lifetime documentary series ''Surviving R. Kelly'', which she executive produced, and the 2012 '' An Oversimplification of Her B ...
, music from
Helado Negro Roberto Carlos Lange (born 1980), better known by his stage name Helado Negro, is an American musician. In 2019 he was awarded a United States Artists Fellow in Music and also the recipient of a 2019 Grants to Artists award in Music from the Fo ...
, readings from
Greg Tate Gregory Stephen Tate (October 14, 1957December 7, 2021) was an American writer, musician, and producer. A long-time critic for '' The Village Voice'', Tate focused particularly on African-American music and culture, helping to establish hip ...
,
Saeed Jones Saeed Jones (born November 26, 1985) is an American writer and poet. His debut collection '' Prelude to Bruise'' was named a 2014 finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry. His second book, a memoir, '' How We Fight for Our ...
,
Darryl Pinckney Darryl Pinckney (born 1953 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American novelist, playwright, and essayist. Early life Pinckney grew up in a middle-class African-American family in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he attended local public schools. H ...
, and a performance from Steffani Jemison and Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts as FORT. In 2019, Ghansah was a recipient of the American Mosaic Journalism Prize, a $100,000 award from the Heising-Simons Foundation for her "deeply reported and essayistic writing pushes the form of longform journalism, ranging from a poignant profile of master painter Henry Taylor to a searing exposé of the hotbed of racism and white supremacy that fueled the heinous murder of nine African-Americans in Charleston, South Carolina. Her power of observation and nuanced writing both shines light on Black Americans and dares us to look at the forces that shape race in America."


Pulitzer Prize

In the fall of 2016, Ghansah spent three months in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
covering the federal trial of
Dylann Roof Dylann Storm Roof (born April 3, 1994) is an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and mass murderer convicted of perpetrating the Charleston church shooting on June 17, 2015, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. During a Bible study at Em ...
for '' GQ''. Her reporting on the making of Dylann Roof and the rise of white nationalist violence was described by the ''
Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, ana ...
'' to be "deserving of all the praise it is getting" and a demonstration of "what apex reporting on the white supremacy beat would look like." In ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'', Jessica Valenti praised the essay for being "an incredible piece of reporting."
Kevin Sack Kevin Sack, an American journalist, is a senior reporter for '' The New York Times''. Sack shared a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2001 for a ''New York Times'' series on race. While at The Los Angeles Times, he received the 2003 Puli ...
, writing in ''The New York Times'', called the piece "expansive and intimate", saying "Ghansah guides us through what is known of the life this young man who remains 'safeguarded by his knowledge that white American terrorism is never waterboarded for answers.'" In 2018, this piece and her profile of Missy Elliott were both selected as finalists for the National Magazine Awards, with the ''GQ'' story winning the award for best feature. The ''GQ'' story won the 2018
Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Journalism. It has been awarded since 1979 for a distinguished example of feature writing giving prime consideration to high lite ...
. "For an unforgettable portrait of murderer Dylann Roof, using a unique and powerful mix of reportage, first-person reflection and analysis of the historical and cultural forces behind his killing of nine people inside Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C." However,
Adam Lankford Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as ...
, a criminology and criminal justice professor at the
University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publ ...
who researches
mass shootings There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 20 ...
, said he respects Ghansah and her skillful work, since in-depth investigations like this story can help academics find patterns and make antidotes to America's mass shooting epidemic, but he also wishes Ghansah knew how dangerous it is to publish mass shooters' names and photos.


''The Explainers and the Explorers''

Ghansah is at work on her first book, ''The Explainers and the Explorers''. Examining "how black America will define itself in the 21st century", the two-volume series will be published in the U.S. by
Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
.


Selected works


"He Shall Overcome: Jay-Z Is $450M Beyond The Marcy Projects. Where Does He Go From Here?"
''Observer'', 2010.
"If He Hollers Let Him Go: Searching for Dave Chappelle ten years after he left his own show"
''The Believer'', 2013. Anthologized in ''The Best American Nonrequired Reading'' (2014) and ''Read Harder'' (2014).
"When the Lights Shut Off: Kendrick Lamar and the Decline of the Black Blues Narrative"
''Los Angeles Review of Books'', 2013.
"How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You: The BeyHive"
NPR, 2014.

''The New York Times Magazine'', 2016.
"A River Runs Through It: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios, Its Ownership, and Other Black Memories"
''The Believer'', 2015.

''The New York Times Magazine'', 2015.
"The Weight of James Arthur Baldwin"
''Buzzfeed'', 2016. Anthologized in ''The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race'' (2016) and ''The Best American Essays'' (2017).
"Her Eyes Were Watching the Stars"
''Elle'', 2017.
"A Most American Terrorist: The Making of Dylann Roof"
''GQ'', 2017.

, ''Vulture'', 2018.


References


External links

*
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
''
All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
'
interview with Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah
September 4, 2017
Longform Podcast: Episode 260: Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, September 6, 2017
* ''Another Round'' podcast
Episode 8: Shmoney for the Ancestors with Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah
May 5, 2015 * ''Longform'' podcast
Episode 101: Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah
July 23, 2014 * PBS ''NewsHour''br>"Brief But Spectacular" segment with Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghansah, Rachel Kaadzi Living people American newspaper journalists African-American women writers American women essayists The New York Times writers 1982 births 21st-century American essayists Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Writers from Philadelphia American writers about music American magazine writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women