storyteller. thinker. educator.
deb, officially

“Behind that sweet smile is a smart, savvy woman who knows how to get things done.”

DEBORAH D. DOUGLAS is co-editor in chief of The Emancipator, a collaboration between Boston University and The Boston Globe that centers critical voices, debates and evidence-based opinion to reframe the national conversation on racial equity and hasten racially just outcomes. She has served as the Eugene S. Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism at DePauw University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project, leading fellowships and programs that include the University of Texas at Austin, Dartmouth College, Columbia University, Urgent Action Fund in South Africa and Kenya, and Youth Narrating Our World (YNOW). While teaching at Northwestern University’s Medill School, she created a graduate investigative journalism capstone on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The founding managing editor of MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, Douglas has been working on her book, **“U.S. Civil Rights Trail: A Traveler’s Guide to the People, Places and Events That Made the Movement.” (Moon Travel, 2021). BUY NOW.**

2019 Studs Terkel Award Winner

Public Narrative’s Studs Terkel Community Media Awards has long honored outstanding media professionals for excellent work in covering Chicago’s diverse communities and beyond. Over 60 journalists have received the award named for one of the country’s preeminent storytellers.

Acceptance Video

“Under the weight of all the evidence of how taxing prejudice is on the average black woman, we can start to make sense of why Erica Garner’s big, generous heart gave out. One way or another, racism, the toxic sludge of American hate, broke it.”
Deborah Douglasin VICE News

“The real malpractice will occur if we, who do this work and believe in the democratizing force of journalism, don’t listen to what these young journalists are trying to tell us about ourselves, our society.”
Deborah Douglasin Gateway Journalism Review

Global

My travels have taken me to Tanzania to study malaria and HIV prevention to Pakistan to teach reporting best practices and Europe to enjoy food, art and culture.

Write

From my civil rights travel book to contributing to “400 Souls,” my writing re-centers the gravity of storytelling around underserved voices and experiences.

Teach

Teaching journalism at the college level — Northwestern University, DePauw University and Columbia College — and facilitating thought leadership trainings has been my joy.

Speak

Unapologetic, honest about the issues. Don’t ask if you don’t want the real answer. (wink)

“Freedom is never given; it is won.”
— A. Philip Randolph

My latest work is writing about traveling the civil rights movement in the “U.S. Civil Rights Trail: A Traveler’s Guide to the People, Places and Events That Made the Movement” (Moon Travel/Hachette Book Group).