In 2021, Boston Review launched the Black Voices in the Public Sphere, a fellowship initiative designed to prepare and support the next generation of Black journalists, editors, and publishers.

Now entering the program’s second year, we are proud to introduce our next cohort of fellows: 

  • Maya Jenkins brings her interest in colonially-conditioned interracial solidarities to her editorial role at Boston Review. Building on past archival research, Maya will work with writers to uncover the historical ties that bind communities of color to one another and to explore the ways that artists, organizers, and everyday folks are working to build power for themselves and for others. Maya received a Bachelor’s from Harvard University where she studied sociology and English. She wrote her senior thesis on the relationship between slavery and American colonization in the Philippines.

 

  • N’Kosi Oates is a social and cultural historian who studies African American life through culture, aesthetics, literature, and history. He earned his Ph.D. in the Department of Africana Studies at Brown University. His work has been published the National Review of Black Politics, Journal of Africana Religions, The Nation, Ebony, Black Perspectives, and Huffington Post. N’Kosi holds a Masters in Arts in Religion from Yale University and a Bachelors with distinction in Political Science and Communication from the University of Delaware.

 

About the Black Voices in the Public Sphere Fellowship

Recognizing aspiring Black media professionals who demonstrate an interest in exploring the publishing world and a commitment to enlarging the landscape of ideas in the media, this program provides fellows with training, networking opportunities, and career development workshops.

With the guidance of Boston Review editors and professional mentors, fellows will also develop projects to be published online or in print. Our first group of fellows spent the year researching and writing about abolition, Afrofuturism, and more for our pages—as well as contributing to The Boston Globe’s The Emancipator, NPR, and other outlets. 

Supported by an advisory board that includes Danielle Allen, Ann Marie Lipinski, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and Brandon Terry, the program builds on Boston Review‘s commitment to making race central to debates about justice, democracy, and citizenship. To support us in this mission and help fund programs like this, visit our fundraising page and make a contribution through August 31.

The Black Voices in the Public Sphere Fellowship is being funded with the generous support of Derek Schrier, chair of  Boston Review’s board of advisors, the Ford Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.