Salamishah Margaret Tillet (born August 25, 1975) is an American scholar, writer, and feminist activist. She is the Henry Rutgers Professor of African American Studies and Creative Writing at
Rutgers University–Newark
Rutgers University–Newark is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, New Jersey's State University. It is located in Newark. Rutgers, founded in 1766 in New Brunswick, is the eighth oldest college in the United States and a me ...
, where she also directs the New Arts Justice Initiative. Tillet is also a contributing critic-at-large at ''
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 ...
''.
In 2003, Salamishah co-founded A Long Walk Home, a Chicago-based non-profit that uses art to empower young people to end
violence against girls and women. Tillet received the
Pulitzer Prize for Criticism
The Pulitzer Prize for Criticism has been presented since 1970 to a newspaper writer in the United States who has demonstrated 'distinguished criticism'. Recipients of the award are chosen by an independent board and officially administered by C ...
in 2022 for "learned and stylish writing about Black stories in art and popular culture–work that successfully bridges academic and nonacademic critical discourse."
Early life and education
Tillet was born in
Boston, Massachusetts to Lennox Tillet and Volora Howell. Her name, Salamishah, combines "
salaam
As-salamu alaykum ( ar, ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ, , ), also ''Salamun Alaykum'' is a greeting in Arabic that means 'Peace be upon you'. The (, meaning 'peace') has become a religious salutation for Muslims worldwide when greet ...
", the Arabic word for peace; "mi", her parents' interpretation of black; and "
shah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
", a
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
royal title.
Upon her parents' separation, she lived in Boston with her mother. Tillet and her sister Scheherazade moved to her father's city of
Port of Spain
Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...
,
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
in 1985 after her mother was
sexually assaulted
Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...
. In Port of Spain, Tillet attended Mucurapo Girls School and
St. Joseph's Convent. In 1988, Tillet returned to the United States, where she lived in
Orange, New Jersey
The City of Orange is a township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 30,134, reflecting a decline of 2,734 (−8.3%) from the 32,868 counted in 2000.
Orange was original ...
and attended
Newark Academy
Newark Academy is a coeducational private day school located in Livingston, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in sixth through twelfth grades. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Col ...
in
Livingston
Livingston may refer to:
Businesses
* Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010)
* Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline
* Livingston International, a North American custom ...
.
During her high school years Tillet developed an interest in literature, played soccer, and ran track. She set school records for the 300-meter and 600-meter indoor races.
Tillet attended the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, where she originally intended to study law. However, taking courses on topics such as jazz and literature with professors such as
Farah Jasmine Griffin
Farah Jasmine Griffin (born 1963) is an American academic and professor specializing in African-American literature. She is William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African-American Studies, chair of the African Am ...
, transformed Tillet's trajectory and interests. Under the mentorship of Griffin, Tillet began to understand the impact of work in academia. In an interview with Kathryn Levy Feldman from the ''Penn Gazette'', Tillet states, "I didn't grow up having academics in my family… I didn't know you could be an English Professor, but Farah provided a lot of insight as well as a model for how I could do work that was relevant." At this time, Tillet "made a conscious commitment to writing my own scholarly works in accessible language and to be politically engaged."
Tillet earned a B.A. in English and African American Studies from Penn, graduating ''magna cum laude'' and
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
in 1996. The following year, she earned her Master of Arts in Teaching from
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
. In 2002, she earned an A.M. in English and American Literature from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. She subsequently earned a Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization (now American Studies) in 2007, also from Harvard. At Harvard,
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Amer ...
and
Werner Sollors
Werner Max Sollors (born June 6, 1943) is Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English and of African American Studies at Harvard University. He is also Global Professor of Literature at New York University Abu Dhabi.
Background
Sollors rece ...
co-chaired her dissertation, "Peculiar Memories: Slavery and the Cultural Imagination."
Career
Tillet returned to the University of Pennsylvania in 2007 to join the faculty in the English Department. Her research and courses there included topics in
American studies
American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, history, society, and culture. It traditionally incorporates literary criticism, historiography and critical theory.
Sch ...
, 20th and 21st-century African American literature, film, popular music, cultural studies, and
feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's social roles, experiences, interests, chores, and feminist ...
. Tillet's courses included ''Family Feuds: Beyonce, Jay-Z, and Solange and the Meaning of American Music'', ''No Bench By the Road: Monuments, Memory, and the Afterlife of Slavery'', ''"Where My Girls At?": African American Women Performers in the 20th Century'', and ''Black Rage: Race, Affect, and the Politics of Feeling''.
Tillet teaches courses in creative nonfiction and African-American studies in the MFA program in the Department of English, Creative Writing and Department of African-American and African Studies at Rutgers University—Newark.
Tillet is based in Newark, New Jersey, where she lives with her partner and two children.
A Long Walk Home
In 2003, Salamishah and her sister Scheherazade Tillet co-founded A Long Walk Home (ALWH), a Chicago-based nonprofit that uses art to empower young people to end violence against girls and women. Through its programs, multimedia performances and college workshops, ALWH has educated survivors and activists to build safe communities and eliminate gender violence. A Long Walk Home works with artists, students, activists, therapists, community organizations, and cultural institutions to elevate marginalized voices, facilitate healing, and activate social change.
Twenty years before
#MeToo, A Long Walk Home emerged as a leading organization in the United States using black feminist justice approaches to combat gender violence and racism. ALWH has been the recipient of the Face History and Ourselves "Upstanders" Award, the Moxie Award for Excellence and Creativity from Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the Chicago Foundation for Women's Impact Awards, the Bright Promise Foundation's Ed Marciniak Bright Star Award, and part of the 2nd Move to End Violence cohort—a 10-year initiative by the NoVo Foundation designed to strengthen the collective capacity to end violence against girls and women in the United States.
''Story of a Rape Survivor'' (SOARS)
In 1997, Tillet told her sister that she had been raped twice in college. That next year, while enrolled in her first social documentary photography class, Scheherazade asked Salamishah if she could document Tillet's healing journey, which included the reclamation of her sexuality, spirituality, and body. Throughout her photographic journey, both Scheherazade and Salamishah discovered ways to heal Salamishah, her family, and others. By 1999, the Tillet sisters invited a cast of black women artists to bring those images to the 90-minute performance, ''Story of a Rape Survivor'' (SOARS), which is a collective portrait of one black woman's survival of sexual assault. SOARS is a record of black women as the earliest trailblazers in ALWH's current movement to end sexual violence against all people. Feminist icon
Gloria Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in ...
described SOARS as "a gift that beautifully blends art, policy, and grassroots organizing to empower our most vulnerable and voiceless Americans." It is being adapted into a documentary film by Yvonne Shirley.
The Girl/Friends Leadership Institute
In 2009, A Long Walk Home launched Girl/Friends, a youth-centered leadership program that amplifies the voices and creative visions of girls and women of color. Created as a safety net for adolescent girls who are most vulnerable to racial and gender-based violence, Girl/Friends has been at the forefront of Chicago's most recent campaigns to end violence against girls and young women, which includes sexual and domestic violence, crimes against queer and gender non-conforming girls, gun violence, and police brutality.
For its innovative and intersectional strategy to combat gender violence, A Long Walk Home has been featured in ''
The Chicago Reader
The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...
'', ''
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 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 ...
'', ''
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 ...
'', ''
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 ...
'', on
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
,
MSNBC
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 ...
, and
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 ...
. ALWH has also been awarded major grants from the With and For Girls Collective and the NoVo Foundation. Salamishah and her sister, Scheherazade, were finalists for Glamour's Women of the Year Award for their work to end violence against girls and women.
New Arts Justice
New Arts Justice is an incubator within Rutgers University-Newark that is committed to feminist approaches to art's relationship to place, social justice, and civic engagement. It was inspired by poet and activist
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. He was the author of numerous bo ...
's 1968 film ''The NEW-ARK'' and concerns racial justice education, urban public theater, and political consciousness-raising in Newark.
Housed in Express Newark, under the directorship of Tillet, New Arts Justice is a joint partnership between the Clement A. Price Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and Modern Experience and Express Newark that:
* Curates inside/outside public art installations and exhibitions throughout the city of Newark
* Supports emerging to mid-career fine artists and curators who actively practice socially-engaged art
* Promotes and publishes innovative scholarly research and data collection on art and civic engagement
''A Call to Peace''
''A Call to Peace'' was a public art and history exhibition co-curated by New Arts Justice and Monument Lab around a central question: What is a timely monument for Newark? The exhibition was conceived in response to
Military Park's
Wars of America monument (1926), built by sculptor
Gutzon Borglum
John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Mountain in Georg ...
. Borglum, famed for creating
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (Lakota: ''Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe'', or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakota ...
and designing a Confederate monument on
Stone Mountain
Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome Inselberg, monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the small city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state o ...
in Georgia, was also affiliated with the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
and used granite from Stone Mountain as the pedestal for his sculpture in Newark.
''A Call to Peace'' includes four temporary prototype monuments by artists
Manuel Acevedo,
Chakaia Booker
Chakaia Booker (born 1953 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American sculptor known for creating monumental, abstract works for both the gallery and outdoor public spaces. Booker’s works are contained in more than 40 public collections and have been ...
,
Sonya Clark
Sonya Clark (born 1967, Washington, D.C.) is an American artist of Afro-Caribbean heritage. Clark is a fiber artist known for using a variety of materials including human hair and combs to address race, culture, class, and history. Her beaded he ...
, and
Jamel Shabazz
Jamel Shabazz (born 1960) is an African-American fashion, fine art, documentary and street style photographer. His work has been published in books, shown in exhibitions, and used in editorial magazine works. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. ...
, who each responded to the exhibition's central question. The artists' projects respectively focus on underrepresented veterans, engaging the legacies of the Confederate statues, and addressing the relationship between public spaces and historical memory. The artists were invited based on their interdisciplinary approaches to monumental work and their innovative approaches to art and social justice.
Publications
Tillet published the book ''Sites of Slavery: Citizenship and Racial Democracy in the Post-Civil Rights Imagination'' in 2012. The book examines how contemporary African American artists and writers use slavery as a metaphor for their feelings of exclusion and estrangement in the United States. The text originated as an independent study project on 18th and 19th-century
slave narrative
The slave narrative is a type of literary genre involving the (written) autobiographical accounts of enslaved Africans, particularly in the Americas. Over six thousand such narratives are estimated to exist; about 150 narratives were published as s ...
s when Tillet was an undergraduate. Tillet says ''Sites of Slavery'' "comes out of my desire to understand why contemporary African-American artists and intellectuals are so preoccupied with returning to the theme of slavery in their works and how their representations of the past help understand our racial present better."
American literary critic
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Ame ...
called ''Sites of Slavery'' "an original contribution and a dazzling analysis of the many ways slavery lives in the contemporary imagination and colors our past, present, and future." Valerie Smith, President of Swarthmore College, notes, "This book will transform the way we think about the place of African American cultural production in relation to 'post-civil right era' political discourse."
Tillet has contributed to scholarly journals and publications. In 2010, Tillet co-edited a special issue on Ethiopia, literature, and art for ''The Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letter''. She has also produced chapters and articles including, "'I Got No Comfort in This Life': The Increasing Importance of Patsey in 12 Years a Slave", for ''
American Literary History
For the history of American literature see American literature.
''American Literary History'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the ...
'', "Elle Perez: On Feminism" for a special issue of ''
Aperture
In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane.
An opt ...
'' magazine, and "'You Want to Be Well?': Self-Care as a Black Feminist Intervention in Art Therapy" in ''Art Therapy for Social Justice: Radical Intersections''.
Tillet has also written the liner notes, "Nina Simone: The Voice of a People", for ''
Nina Simone Sings the Blues
''Sings the Blues'' is an album by singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone. This was Simone's first album for RCA Records after previously recording for Colpix Records and Philips Records. The album was also reissued in 2006 with bonus tracks, and ...
'' and "Freedom Then, Freedom Now" for ''
Wake Up!'' by
John Legend
John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Ever ...
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 ...
.
Tillet wrote the nonfiction book, ''In Search of The Color Purple: The Story of an American Masterpiece'', published in January 2021 by
Abrams Books
Abrams, formerly Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (HNA), is an American publisher of art and illustrated books, children's books, and stationery.
The enterprise is a subsidiary of the French publisher La Martinière Groupe. Run by President and CEO Michael ...
. Currently, she is working on ''All the Rage: "Mississippi Goddam." and the World Nina Simone Made'' with
Ecco Press
Ecco is a New York-based publishing imprint of HarperCollins. It was founded in 1971 by Daniel Halpern as an independent publishing company; Publishers Weekly described it as "one of America's best-known literary houses." In 1999 Ecco was acquired ...
.
Tillet has presented her scholarly and activist work at various conferences, festivals, and seminars hosted at universities and institutions such as
Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...
,
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
,
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
,
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, and
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. A few of her lectures include "'We Would Have to Fight the World': The Global Influence & Afterlife of the Combahee River Collective," at the
National Women's Studies Association
The National Women's Studies Association (NWSA) is an organization founded in 1977, made up of scholars and practitioners in the field of women's studies also known as women's and gender studies, feminist studies, and related names in the 21st c ...
in Baltimore, "Real Talk: On Black Girlhood and the Future of Feminism," at the Toni Cade Bambara Scholar-Activism Conference at
Spelman College
Spelman College is a private, historically black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman re ...
, and "Black Girls in Search of Justice: The Bluest Eye, Brown v. Board, and The Fate of Black Girlhood" at
Loyola University.
Tillet has co-organized projects and conferences including The Continuum Violence Project, an incubator for policyholders, activists, and academics who work on ending violence—gun control, community and gang violence, and gender-based violence. She co-organized Black Girl Movement: A National Conference, a conference hosted by
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 ...
that focused on the experiences and realities of Black girls in the United States. Tillet has interviewed
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...
,
Shonda Rhimes
Shonda Lynn Rhimes (born January 13, 1970) is an American television screenwriter, producer, and author. She is best known as the showrunner—creator, head writer, and executive producer—of the television medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'', it ...
,
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...
,
Kerry Washington
Kerry Marisa Washington (born January 31, 1977) SidebarCertificate of Live Birth: Isabelle Amarachi Asomugha(County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health). Gives Kerry Washington birth dateArchivedfrom the original on May 2, 2016.Note: Fi ...
,
Ava DuVernay
Ava Marie DuVernay (; born August 24, 1972) is an American filmmaker, television producer and former film publicist. She is a recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, a NAACP Image Award, a BAFTA Film Award and a BAFTA TV Award, as well as a nominee ...
,
Solange Knowles
Solange Piaget Knowles (; born June 24, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, performance artist, and actress. Expressing an interest in music from an early age, Knowles had several temporary stints as a backup dancer for Destiny's Child, wh ...
,
Michael B. Jordan
Michael Bakari Jordan (; born February 9, 1987) is an American actor. He is known for his film roles as shooting victim Oscar Grant in the drama ''Fruitvale Station'' (2013), boxer Adonis Creed in ''Creed'' (2015), and Erik Killmonger in ''Bl ...
, and
Suzan Lori-Parks. Tillet has appeared on broadcasts, radio shows, and podcasts on platforms such as
MSNBC
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 ...
,
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
, and
C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
. She has also appeared in the documentaries ''
Surviving R. Kelly'' and ''NO! The Rape Documentary'' by Aishah Shahidah Simmons.
Tillet is a cultural critic who has written for a number of publications including "Solange: The Messenger" for ''
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 ...
'' magazine, "'Black Panther': Why Not Queen Shuri?" for ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'', and "Quentin Tarantino's Exceptional Slave: "Django Unchained'" for
CNN: In America. She is a regular writer for the Culture and Opinion sections of the ''New York Times'' and has written "Why Harvey Weinstein's Guilt Matters to Black Women", "After the 'Surviving R. Kelly' Documentary, #MeToo Has Finally Returned to Black Girls", and "Nina Simone's Time is Now: Again".
Awards
In 2010, the University of Pennsylvania awarded Tillet with the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Award for Distinguished Teaching by an Assistant Professor. Tillet was a 2010-2011 recipient of a Career Enhancement Fellowship from the
Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
The Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation) is a nonpartisan, non-profit based in Princeton, New Jersey that aims to strengthen American democracy by “cultivating the talent, ideas, ...
. During that academic year, she served as a visiting fellow at the Center of African American Studies at Princeton University. From 2013-14, she was a scholar-in-residence at the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
's
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a research library of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and an archive repository for information on people of African descent worldwide. Located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) b ...
located in Harlem. In 2019, she was awarded the Badass Art Woman Award by the Project of Empty Space.
For her leadership in activism and advancing girls' and women's rights, Tillet was named one of the "Top 50 Global Leaders Ending Violence Against Children" by the Together for Girls' ''Safe'' magazine and America's "Top Leaders Under 30" by ''Ebony''.
Bibliography
*
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tillet, Salamishah
American activists
African-American writers
American writers
University of Pennsylvania faculty
Harvard University alumni
University of Pennsylvania alumni
Brown University alumni
Newark Academy alumni
People from Orange, New Jersey
Trinidadian and Tobagonian American
Pulitzer Prize for Criticism winners