Award-winning journalist Jemele Hill will provide a keynote address Monday evening, Feb. 27,  at the University of Oregon’s Ford Alumni Center, rounding out activities in February celebrating Black History Month.

Hill’s 20-year journalism career has included stops at ESPN and several newspapers. She joined ESPN in 2006 as a national columnist for espn.com and has appeared on network programs including SportsCenter, First Take and Around the Horn. She has also covered college football as an ESPN sideline reporter.

A contributor to the Atlantic magazine, Hill was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists in 2018. In 2019, she debuted “Jemele Hill is Unbothered,” an award-winning podcast on Spotify that has hosted guests including Vice President Kamala Harris, Spike Lee, Chelsea Clinton, Dan Rather, Stephen Colbert, and rappers Common and Ice Cube.

During her address, Hill will discuss growing up in Detroit and her experiences as a Black woman and sports journalist in a field dominated by men. The event is free and open to the campus community.

Aris Hall, coordinator of the Lyllye Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center, which is hosting the event, said Hill embodies the center’s theme for Black History Month: “Living Black Truth with Liberation and Justice for Us.”

“We want the UO Black community to be inspired, especially Black students, to take away gems of wisdom that will help them to pursue their own dreams in whatever career field they are pursuing,” Hall said.

The event begins with a reception at 5 p.m. and the program starts at 5:30. A moderated question-and-answer session is also included.

—By Matt Cooper, University Communications