Black art and literature are celebrated in this year’s MacArthur Foundation Genius Grants
The 2024 class of MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant recipients has been announced, and with a prominent number of Black writers and artists named among the crop of 22, Black art, thought, and creativity are taking center stage.
Eight Black recipients have been named in this year’s class, including scholar and writer Ruha Benjamin, poet Jericho Brown, media artist Tony Cokes, historian Jennifer Morgan, multimedia artist Ebony Patterson, dancer Shamel Pitts, children’s young adult writer Jason Reynolds, and scholar and researcher Dorothy Roberts.
Speaking to AP about the honor, Reynolds said he was grateful to receive the call.
“I had just gotten back from taking care of my mom at the hospital,” he told the publication, adding. “There’s like all this real-life stuff happening that’s super intense and pressured and heavy. And there’s a phone call that just keeps coming through.”
The interdisciplinary award, which is awarded annually to people flourishing in their respective fields, comes with a “no strings attached” $800,000 grant distributed over five years. Recipients do not apply for the honor, it’s instead awarded via on a selective process involving nominees. Those up for consideration aren’t typically aware they have even been nominated. Each year, the organization looks to further the work or study of individuals who demonstrate “exceptional creativity,” have a proven track record of success, and the potential to do even more.
Learn more about this year’s Black recipients below.
1. Ruha Benjamin, 46, Princeton, New Jersey
Benjamin is a transdisciplinary scholar and writer at Princeton University studying how new technologies and medical research reinforce social and racial inequality and bias.
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2. Jericho Brown, 48, Atlanta, Georgia
Brown is a celebrated, award-winning poet currently teaching creative writing at Emory University. His book “The Tradition” won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
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3. Tony Cokes, 68, Providence, Rhode Island
Cokes, a media artist based at Brown University, works largely in video, creating media that communicates larger social commentary on aspects of Black life, including police brutality.
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4. Jennifer L. Morgan, 58, New York, New York
Morgan is a historian at New York University whose work focuses on enslaved African women, how slave labor grew the United States economy and reproductive labor.
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5. Ebony G. Patterson, 43, Kingston, Jamaica and Chicago
As a multimedia artist, Patterson creates complex, immersive works using a variety of materials and mediums. Her work often explores social histories and uses extreme juxtaposition.
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6. Shamel Pitts, 39, Brooklyn, New York
With his artist group, TRIBE, Pitts, a dancer and choreographer, has been creating works of movement that exist in futures free from the oppression many Black and brown individuals face throughout the African diaspora.
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7. Jason Reynolds, 40, Washington, D.C.
Reynolds, a former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and a children’s and young adult author, writes genre-bending books that grapple with the everyday experiences of Black children. His upcoming book “Twenty-Four Seconds from Now…,” a coming-of-age story about a Black teen exploring sex for the first time, will be published on Oct. 8 by Simon & Schuster.
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8. Dorothy Roberts, 68, Philadelphia
Roberts, a legal scholar and public policy researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, researches the racial disparities in child welfare systems and health systems that have historically denied Black women autonomy over their bodies.
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For a complete list of this year’s recipients, take a look at their profiles on the MacArthur Foundation website.
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