Deborah D. Douglas

Deborah D. Douglas is director of the newly created Midwest Solutions Journalism Hub at Northwestern University and a senior lecturer. She is a founding co-editor in chief of The Emancipator, a digital platform that reimagines abolitionist newspapers for a new day. She previously served as the Eugene S. Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Professor at DePauw University, senior leader with The OpEd Project, amplifying underrepresented expert voices, and founding managing editor of MLK50: Justice Through Journalism.

Douglas authored of the “U.S. Civil Rights Trail: A Traveler’s Guide to the People, Places, and Events That Made the Movement,” the first-ever travel guide to follow the official civil rights trail in the South, and a contributor to “Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019.” Among her many recognitions, she received Chicago’s prestigious Studs Terkel Award and the Society of American Travel Writers 2021 Guidebook of the Year.

Douglas’ reporting and opinions have been published widely, including The Guardian, Ms, ProPublica, Time, The Boston Globe, American Prospect, VICE News, The Crisis, USA Today and O, The Oprah Magazine. In 2016, her reporting on Black women and erasure was cited by The New York Times magazine.